Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place via Greg Masters...
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Last licks for Ludlow Guitars on the Lower East Side
[Ludlow Guitars owner Kaan Howell and employee Garret Lovell, first and second from left, along with members of nearby Con Artist Collective.]
Earlier this month, Ludlow Guitars announced that they were relocating to Brooklyn after 17 years on the Lower East Side.
Here's what owner Kaan Howell had to say, as reported by The Lo-Down:
[T]he move to Brooklyn is not due to an alarming rent increase, unlike his move 6 years ago from 164 Ludlow St. to the current location. “Normally when you do the move,” he said, “it’s not generally one thing (namely a rent hike).”
“The lease is not up this second,” Howell said, “but I’m choosing to leave before I really don’t have a choice.”
Yesterday was the store's last day in business here between Houston and Stanton.
Photographer Nick McManus, a group portrait artist who works on Impossible Project Polaroids for gallery exhibition in New York, stopped by for some closing shots.
Per Nick:
I was able to take a group portraits for the final day of Ludlow Guitars. Owner Kaan Howell and employee Garret Lovell were joined by their neighbors from Con Artist Collective down the block as the sun shone on the facade.
Kaan, who's owned the business since 2004, told me they'll be opening up in Brooklyn soon and were excited to start a new chapter there.
It was second time Ludlow Guitars has relocated after moving just up the block in 2010 from it's longtime home at 164 Ludlow St. where ODD is presently located. Kaan and Garret enjoyed the shoot and gave everyone guitars to pose with.
Update on yesterday's stabbing in Tompkins Square Park
Here are more details about the stabbing that took place yesterday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park.
According to Downtown Manhattan Patch, a 26-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors.
Per Patch:
Police charged Whitmore, who lives at Project Renewal on the Bowery, with assault and possession of a weapon.
The victim is in serious condition at Bellevue.
According to Downtown Manhattan Patch, a 26-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors.
Per Patch:
Emerson Whitmore, 51, and Sarah Wilson, 36, who knew the victim, got into a fight with him over property that had gone missing or might have been stolen, according to the NYPD. Whitmore stabbed the victim in the back multiple times with the scissors.
Police charged Whitmore, who lives at Project Renewal on the Bowery, with assault and possession of a weapon.
The victim is in serious condition at Bellevue.
St. Mark's Ale House sign down
[Photo by Steven]
Workers today removed the St. Mark's Ale House sign from 2 St. Mark's Place. The 21-year-old bar-restaurant closed at the beginning of the month, as we first reported.
We continue to hear rumors that the owner the is going to reopen the place as a Greek restaurant.
Signage arrives for Dahlia's-replacing salad and juice bar
Earlier this month, multiple tipsters told us that the closed-for-now Dahlia's on Second Avenue and Fifth Street will return as a quick-serve restaurant specializing in salads.
And yesterday, the signage arrived for 100% Healthy Blend...
The sign notes both a salad bar and a juice bar on the premises. As we understand it, the owners of Dahlia's are also behind this new venture.
As you likely recall, the SLA temporarily suspended Dahlia's liquor license after serving a reported 50 minors one night in January. The Mexican restaurant then closed in May.
Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Dahlia's busted after cops find 43 minors drinking inside locked restaurant
More about the underage drinking bust at Dahlia's; plus, reaction from NYU students
RUMOR: The Dahlia's space will be converted into a salad bar
And yesterday, the signage arrived for 100% Healthy Blend...
The sign notes both a salad bar and a juice bar on the premises. As we understand it, the owners of Dahlia's are also behind this new venture.
As you likely recall, the SLA temporarily suspended Dahlia's liquor license after serving a reported 50 minors one night in January. The Mexican restaurant then closed in May.
Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Dahlia's busted after cops find 43 minors drinking inside locked restaurant
More about the underage drinking bust at Dahlia's; plus, reaction from NYU students
RUMOR: The Dahlia's space will be converted into a salad bar
Full reveal at NYU's expanded Academic Support Center on Lafayette and 4th Street
After nearly 21 months of work, the sidewalk bridge and scaffolding have been removed from NYU's Academic Support Center (the former Tower video space) at 383 Lafayette St. at East Fourth Street...
As Curbed reported in July 2014, NYU was expanding the space, adding a new 4-floor buidling on the land that previously housed the Plantworks garden center for nearly 40 years.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building
Coffee shop slated for former Top A Nails space on Avenue A
A tipster passes along word that a coffee shop will open in the former Top A Nails space going under renovations now at 137 Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street. The tipster did not have any further details, such as who the proprietors are.
Top A Nails moved next door to No. 139 — the former Sustainable NYC — at the beginning of May.
A look at Follia, opening soon in the former Mumbles space on 3rd Avenue
And just a little north from our usual coverage area... an EVG reader sends along these exterior photos of Follia, the Italian wine bar and pizzeria opening this summer on Third Avenue and 17th Street...
La Follia had been operating at the corner of of Third Avenue and 19th Street. Per Town & Village earlier this year: "The new location will be an upgrade for the Italian restaurant, since it will make it possible to expand the menu and offer things like pizza."
The owners are also behind Carroll Place on Bleecker Street and Anisette on Third Avenue.
Mumbles closed here at the end of January after 22 years. Owner David Feldman cited a variety of reasons for closing Mumbles, including a continued decline in business the past few years.
Monday, July 18, 2016
[Updated] Report of a stabbing in Tompkins Square Park
Multiple readers reported a heavy police presence in Tompkins Square Park starting around 2:30 after the incident took place near the chess tables in the southwest corner near Seventh Street and Avenue A. Sources in the Park told EVG correspondent Steven that the two men are regulars at the chess tables, and that the fight started over a cellphone.
A police source said that an arrest had been made. The condition of the victim is not immediately known.
Updated 7/19:
Here are more details about the stabbing that took place yesterday afternoon:
According to Downtown Manhattan Patch, a 26-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors.
Per Patch:
Emerson Whitmore, 51, and Sarah Wilson, 36, who knew the victim, got into a fight with him over property that had gone missing or might have been stolen, according to the NYPD. Whitmore stabbed the victim in the back multiple times with the scissors.
Police charged Whitmore, who lives at the Project Renewal on the Bowery, with assault and possession of a weapon.
The victim is in serious condition at Bellevue.
Remembering Alan Vega
[Photo this morning by Derek Berg]
Someone spray-painted Alan Vega's name on the wall here on Sixth Street at First Avenue...as mentioned previously, the co-founder of influential electronic and proto-punk band Suicide died Saturday. He was 78.
From The New York Times:
Suicide, particularly in its early years, was as much a provocation as a concert act. Formed in 1970, it was one of the first bands to bill themselves as “punk music.” With Martin Rev playing loud, insistently repetitive riffs on keyboards and drum machines and Mr. Vega crooning, chanting, muttering and howling his lyrics about insanity, mayhem and death, Suicide fiercely polarized its audiences.
In the trashy, fertile downtown New York City arts world of the early 1970s, Suicide performed at the Mercer Arts Center, Max’s Kansas City and CBGB as well as at art galleries. The band was initially a trio, including a guitarist, but by 1972 it was just Mr. Vega and Mr. Rev.
[Updated] Reader report: Rumors about the new Astor Place and the Alamo
[Astor Place photo from Saturday]
Longtime EVG reader Liberation shared the following...
[On Friday] I was told by someone who works for Village Alliance that, when eventually complete, the new Astor Place will have a variety of food vendors, outdoor tables and chairs, and some type of lighting scheme. There's a large electrical box on the northeast corner of Chase that will power all of this. The Village Alliance and some type of committee at the Sculpture of Living building decide who these food vendors are and, in general, decide what takes place in the area.
One bit of news I found shocking is that they have allegedly altered The Alamo sculpture so it will now include some type of lighting.
According to the Village Alliance employee the sculpture will also rotate on its own now as he said people have hurt their backs trying to spin it. Personally, I find it unethical to alter an artist's work to make it appear more like a theme park attraction.
The Alamo had an announced return date of June 22, but the city pushed it back to August.
Workers removed the Alamo for safekeeping for the duration of the $16 million capital improvement project on Nov. 25, 2014.
Updated 3 p.m.
William Kelley, executive director of the Village Alliance, shared the following with us:
The Alamo sculpture should return in August, and it is exactly the same as it was before. There are no lights and the spinning mechanism is human powered, just like before. It received a thorough cleaning and coating to protect it from the weather and will return in good shape.
Also coming in August, there will be bistro tables, chairs and umbrellas for use by the public, much like you see in other plazas around the city.
Finally, there will be a single food concession in the north and south plaza spaces at Astor Place (not around Cooper Square or points south) pursuant to the license agreement with NYCDOT. No other vending will be allowed on the plazas.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Alamo returns to Astor Place this Halloween
Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project
This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place
RIP Tony Rosenthal, the sculptor who created the Astor Place cube
The first of Jim Power's restored mosaic light poles has returned to Astor Place
Looking at a cube-less (still) Astor Place
DumplingGo returning as Dumpling Guo on 2nd Avenue
Over the weekend several readers pointed out that DumplingGo emerged from behind the brown-papered windows with a new look, concept and name here on Second Avenue and 12th Street.
Dumpling Guo will offer dumplings and hot pot... as the signs in the windows explain...
One sign says that they "source fresh, local, sustainable and organic ingredients" ...
DumplingGo closed in April for renovations, though there wasn't any explanation signage for customers. DumplingGo, which opened in March 2015, never appeared all the busy ... while Mimi Cheng's Dumplings was packing them in across Second Avenue.
So perhaps the new offerings and approach will bring in more diners. The DumplingGo team also received the OK from CB3 in April for a beer-wine license.
On Saturday afternoon, an EVG reader said that a few people appeared to be inside dining (perhaps as a friends-family test run) ... though the sign on the door says opening soon...
Gotham Pizza interior reveal on 3rd Avenue
The other day workers removed the paper from the windows at the incoming Gotham Pizza on Third Avenue and 12th Street ... as these photos by EVG reader Laura K. show...not much to see inside just yet — mostly boxes...
...Workers papered up part of the windows again by the end of the day Saturday...
Anyway, people have told us that they like the pizza here. (There are several other locations in the city.) Serious Eats gave Gotham Pizza high marks, particularly for its super-thin crust that includes "a smattering of breadcrumbs," in this 2009 review.
No one word on an opening date just yet for the Third Avenue spot.
As you probably know, the space last served up the FroYo via Funkiberry.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Funkiberry-replacing pizzeria revealed on 3rd Avenue
The evolution of Ben Shaoul
The piece offers new insights into Shaoul, whose real-estate actions have been widely reported in this neighborhood. For instance, Shaoul says that he only needs five hours of sleep a night. After that, he says, "it’s depreciating returns."
The article focuses on his transition from evicting rent-stabilized tenants, emptying nursing homes and adding questionably legal penthouses to developing multi-million dollar properties and high-profile homes.
Over the past five years, he has scaled the ranks from a smalltime landlord to one of the city’s most important developers, partnering with major institutional capital providers and taking on ever more challenging and risky projects. His portfolio includes retail properties, condos, rentals and even dormitories. All told, he said his holdings are valued at more than $3 billion. In Manhattan, he currently has close to 500 new condo units on the market, which is likely more than any other developer right now.
The Real Deal also revisits the moment in March 2006 where he became known as "the sledgehammer," a well-documented story in which Shaoul and his construction workers knocked down apartment doors at the Cave, the building he had recently bought at 120 St. Mark's Place. Bob Arihood took photos of Shaoul and his crew, holding crow bars and sledgehammers, staring down Cave tenant Jim Power.
Although the ski-cap-topped Shaoul wasn't actually holding a sledgehammer — just a flip phone — Curbed dubbed him "sledgehammer" and it has stuck these past 10 years. (Curbed also once referred to Shaoul as an "80s breakdance movie villain." And maybe a little Johnny "Sweep the Leg" Lawrence?)
[Photo from March 2006 by Bob Arihood]
And what does Shaoul think of this sledgehammer moniker today?
Shaoul recently bristled at the depiction. “Do I wish people didn’t say that? Of course I do,” he said. “I have four children and a wife, and kids come to my house for playdates and stuff. The last thing I want is for one of those other parents to Google me and something that’s not even true comes up. You don’t want to handicap your children with that.”
Sources said the criticism Shaoul and his partners received in those years likely played a part in him transitioning into other types of projects.
As for more current Shaoul-East Village news... crews continue to work seven days a week (they do have permits for the weekend work) on the million-dollar condoplex at 100 Avenue A.
Thursday Kitchen is cafe by day with Korean tapas at night
Thursday Kitchen, the Korean tapas bar, is in soft-open mode now at 424 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.
In the evening, Thursday Kitchen is serving a menu featuring various small-plate options...
[Photo by William Klayer]
... and during the day, they are serving reasonably priced coffee (iced or regular coffee is listed for a $1)...
They are also advertising free wi-fi during the day.
King Bee, the previous restaurant here, bowed out last month.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Thursday Kitchen will serve Korean tapas on East 9th Street
Atla announces itself on Lafayette; coffee shop coming next door
Over at 372 Lafayette St., the first sign of what's to come in the retail space has arrived in the windows here at Great Jones.
As Tasting Table first reported in April, chef Enrique Olvera is opening a casual Mexican restaurant in the corner spot. Olvera, who Eater calls "one of the world's great chefs," also operates the well-regarded Cosme on East 21st Street and Pujol in Mexico City.
Atla is expected to be open by the end of the year.
And while we're over in this direction... signage arrived several weeks ago in the space next door... for Honeybrains, which will be a coffee shop/cafe...
Continuing south... a Yogasmoga clothing store is opening in the new Selldorf-designed condos at 10 Bond St. ... and the Italian fashion brand Boglioli is ready to go with its first U.S. outpost...
Before the two new luxury residential buildings arrived here between Bond and Great Jones, the property held ZP Auto Repair Shop, a parking garage and Harrison Ford's head...
[February 2009]
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Week in Grieview
[Photo at St. Mark's and Cooper Square via Derek Berg]
New York Central Art Supply is closing at the end of September (Monday)
After 35 years on East 9th Street, Mascot Studio is leaving the East Village (Wednesday)
The Marshal seizes Lanza's for nonpayment of taxes (Thursday)
St. Mark's Ale House has closed (Monday)
[The Ale House on Wednesday via Steven]
On East 12th Street, "The rats have taken over!" (Tuesday)
Peter Kane looking to bring Out East, a destination restaurant for 6th Street (Monday)
A plaque now marks where Basquiat lived and worked on Great Jones Street (Thursday)
Kati Roll Company still coming to 128 2nd Ave., and the Stage has been gutted (Monday)
CB3 committee votes against height variance for new 14th Street development (Friday)
Out and About with Roosmarijn van Kessel (Wednesday)
Thursday afternoon's thunderstorm (Thursday)
Closures on East 10th Street: Cafe Silan and Spirit and Matter (Monday)
The Bowery Market opens (Thursday)
Raphael Toledano says he is now funding the Creative Little Garden on 6th Street (Thursday)
About the Citi Bike docking station outside the New York City Marble Cemetery (Monday)
An ugly scene at the 6BC Botanical Garden (Wednesday)
Red Koi Organic Sushi Lounge has closed on 1st Avenue (Wednesday) ... and Iron Sushi on 10th Street (Friday)
The 22-floor Bowlmor Lanes-replacing luxury building (Tuesday)
Last Manhattanhenge till 2017! (Tuesday)
Capital One® departs 14th and 3rd (bank branch down!) for new Union Square home (Monday)
"Ghostbusters II" flashback: Revisiting Ray's Occult Books on St. Mark's Place (Friday)
... and a reader shared this photo... bagging a Rattata outside the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office on 14th Street...
Sen. Schumer talks K2 on 2nd Avenue
[Photo by Steven]
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer held a press conference this afternoon outside the Orpheum Theater on Second Avenue to discuss his proposed drug legislation in the aftermath of the recent K2 mass overdose in Bed-Stuy.
Here's more from the Associated Press:
Schumer is pushing legislation to add 22 substances to the federal list of banned drugs following a mass overdose in Brooklyn last week that sent 33 people to hospitals.
Schumer's bill would ban substances, including three derivatives of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, and 19 others that are used in efforts to mimic the main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana.
He says that since 2015, more than 6,000 synthetic drug-related emergency department visits in New York City and two confirmed deaths have been blamed on K2.
An aide told EVG correspondent Steven that Schumer picked the East Village for the press conference because it's a diverse neighborhood and K2 is a problem affecting everyone.
And some reaction via Twitter...
Thx @SenSchumer for staging K2 press conference in the drug infested East Village. Hopefully it'll send a message to realtors to stay away!
— Jena Friedman (@JenaFriedman) July 17, 2016
RIP Alan Vega
[Image via]
Alan Vega, one half of the seminal electronic duo Suicide, died yesterday. He was 78.
Henry Rollins first reported the news via his website. Rollins also posted a message from Vega's family:
With profound sadness and a stillness that only news like this can bring, we regret to inform you that the great artist and creative force, Alan Vega has passed away.
Alan passed peacefully in his sleep last night, July 16. He was 78 years of age.
Alan was not only relentlessly creative, writing music and painting until the end, he was also startlingly unique. Along with Martin Rev, in the early 1970’s, they formed the two person avant band known as Suicide. Almost immediately, their incredible and unclassifiable music went against every possible grain. Their confrontational live performances, light-years before Punk Rock, are the stuff of legend. Their first, self-titled album is one of the single most challenging and noteworthy achievements in American music.
Alan Vega was the quintessential artist on every imaginable level. His entire life was devoted to outputting what his vision commanded of him.
One of the greatest aspects of Alan Vega was his unflinching adherence to the demands of his art. He only did what he wanted. Simply put, he lived to create. After decades of constant output, the world seemed to catch up with Alan and he was acknowledged as the groundbreaking creative individual he had been from the very start.
Alan’s life is a lesson of what it is to truly live for art. The work, the incredible amount of time required, the courage to keep seeing it and the strength to bring it forth—this was Alan Vega.
Alan is survived by his amazing family, wife Liz and son Dante. His incredible body of work, spanning five decades, will be with us forever.
As NME noted, the Jesus And Mary Chain, Bruce Springsteen, Thurston Moore, Nick Cave, New Order, Steve Albini, MIA and LCD Soundsystem are among the bands-musicians who have cited Suicide and Vega as an influence on their own music.
Early on, though, Vega, who was born in Bensonhurst, didn't think that people liked the band so much.
From a profile in Brooklyn magazine last December:
Vega, New York City punk icon, spent over a decade convinced that no one liked his band. “Suicide was hated by everybody. Everybody! It’s true. You should have seen the night we opened for The Ramones [at CBGBs],” he says. “They were late. Hilly [Kristal, CBGBs owner] was going nuts. So we had to go on… again! You should have heard the fuckin’ ‘Booooooooooooooooo.’ You couldn’t stop it, it was endless. Finally, the Ramones showed up, but Jesus Christ, we still had to do a few songs.”
He can laugh about it now, but for him and bandmate Martin Rev, the 70s were pretty rough. “They hated us from the day we started.” So he started swinging bicycle chains at their gigs to overtly menace the crowds unready to embrace Suicide’s brutally minimal, sorta terrifying music, because, fuck ‘em.
Updated
A few tributes via Instagram...
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Heads up in Tompkins Square Park
You never know when a fledgling might be doing a fly by...
Visit Goggla's site for more photos of Christo and Dora's offspring in action. Derek Berg took the three photos above here.
And here's a nice shot via Bobby Williams from yesterday...
Friday, July 15, 2016
Orange crush
British singer/composer Dev Hynes released his new Blood Orange album "Freetown Sound" on July 1... from that record is "Augustine," featuring a few familiar faces and places.
He'll be among the many performers during next weekend's Panorama festival on Randall's Island.
Sign of the times
Getting in on the Pokémon Go action at Bar Virage on Second Avenue at Seventh Street ... photo via Vinny & O.
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