Friday, September 30, 2016
Mr. Mister
Here's The Julie Ruin with "Mr. So and So" from the band's second record, Hit Reset, from this past summer.
Tickets went on sale today for the band's Nov. 10 show at Irving Plaza.
EV Grieve Etc.: the condo plans for the former Streit's; the trailer for 'Gimme Danger'
[Photo by Derek Berg]
Developers discuss their condo plans for the former Streit’s factory site on Rivington (The Lo-Down)
Interview with Wendy Scripps, founder of Wendigo Productions and Art on A (Geeks of Doom... previously)
Fall migration in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)
A review of the novel "Christodora," set on Avenue B against the backdrop of art, AIDS and activism in the 1980s (Slate)
The Post looks at the penthouse in the former synagogue on Sixth Street: Headline — "Mazel top" (The Post ... previously)
About the Cop Shoot Cop book project underway (Flaming Pablum)
An interview with the "Chinatown Art Brigade" (BoweryBoogie)
50th anniversary screening of "The Chelsea Girls" on Sunday (Anthology Film Archives)
An East First Street alcove studio with a $620,000 asking price (Curbed)
... and the trailer for Jim Jarmusch's "Gimme Danger" premiered on Wednesday...
The documentary on the Stooges opens Nov. 4.
[Updated] Checking in on the Shepard Fairey mural on 11th Street and 1st Avenue
Here's how it's looking this morning, via a photo by EVG reader JG... Fairey started work on it Wednesday... it appears as if there's a little more to go, delayed by the rainy/windy weather.
Updated 3:30 p.m.
DNAinfo has more details on the mural, which is an image of Fairey's daughter when she was 3 years old. (She is now 11.)
"The title of the piece is 'Rise Above,' and its meant to be an uplifting image, a positive image to make people smile or to make New Yorkers look up," said Wayne Rada of the Little Italy Street Art (L.I.S.A.) Project.
A patient visit to the medical marijuana dispensary on 14th Street
Written by an EV Grieve regular who wishes to remain anonymous
I had the opportunity to visit Columbia Care on East 14th Street last week as a patient.
First, I had to get a recommendation from a doctor and then use that to apply for a medical marijuana card from the New York State Department of Health to schedule an appointment with Columbia Care.
The card arrived in overnight mail looking very much like a driver's license. In fact, it had been mailed from the DMV and included the picture from my driver's license.
The doctor I visited had to be registered with the New York State Department of Health as a prescriber of medical marijuana. His office looked like a typical therapist's office. He saw me and, after reviewing my medical records and a consultation with his assistant (a marijuana expert from California, she told me), he gave me his recommendation on a form that he registered with the state while we chatted.
His office visit fee of $200 was paid on a Square attachment to his iPhone by debit card. The card from New York State cost $50 and they said they would bill me for it. The doctor's appointment was not covered by health insurance.
The Columbia Care facility, which opened in early January, is on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. You must get buzzed in to the facility. A security guard sits inside the front door. He asked to see my ID card. After I showed it to him and mentioned my appointment, he turned to a small window where the receptionist sits and told him my name. They granted me access into the vestibule, and then through one more door.
The reception area is a soft white-light environment not unlike the waiting room for a high-tech spa complete with similar lighting and pleasing background music.
I was a little early so I took a seat. Right at my scheduled time, a pharmacist in a white lab-style coat came out of the back room and led me into the actual dispensary.
The dispensary was similarly lit, but it looked like a high-tech eyeglass store with glass display counters on one side. We continued past all this into an area that was labeled "patient consultation room." Here was a small conference room with a table and four chairs. It was very businesslike.
She sat down on the opposite side of the table from me and consulted my records. She then proceeded to ask me a few follow-up questions related to my experience with using marijuana and what type of medications I was taking at the time for the conditions that I was trying to treat. Then she told me about the product — what I was there to find out about. The big reveal!
The pharmacist said that they produced two different types of products: one was a tincture, which is an alcohol-based soluble mixture with marijuana that you put underneath your tongue. The other is a type of concentrated oil in a capsule that you use in a vapor pen.
The third type of product, pills or capsules filled with the marijuana, which is legal in New York State, is not currently available at Columbia. There isn't any smokeable or edible marijuana of any kind for sale.
Each type of product came in three varieties. The first type was 25 part Cannabinol to one part THC, the second type was equal parts Cannabinol to THC, and the third type was 25 parts THC to one part Cannabinol. She told me that the first type was best for nerve pain and the third type was more like an opiate-style pain killer.
So based on my medical records and what I told her, she recommended that I try the second mixed type in the vapor oil pen format. She then demonstrated how to use the vapor pen and how often to use it (three times a day to start).
As health insurance does not cover the costs medical marijuana, I had to pay out of pocket. She told me that one capsule would be $100 and it would be around 90 puffs (4ml). At her recommendation of three puffs per day, this would be a one-month supply. This price seemed expensive to me based on previous quotes I have seen for this type of medical marijuana product in California and Colorado. However, I figured I would try it out because I got this far.
With the battery pack, the final price was $110. She brought me back into the dispensary, where I received my product in what turned out to be hard-to-open containers. The counter person gave me final instructions on how to use the product and also told me "don't freak out if the pen doesn't work or stops working — that probably just means that you need to charge the battery."
Upon returning home, I sorted through all the packaging and read over the directions. Then I charged up the battery and away I went. I must say that the medicine there is a quality product, and it did have a positive impact on the medical conditions that I am treating.
Regardless, I do feel that the price at Columbia Care is too steep based on other comparisons of similar products. Makes sense — there isn't any competition. Columbia Care is the only dispensary in Manhattan at this time, and New York State made the start-up cost prohibitively expensive with ridiculous restrictions.
In any event, I had a good experience and I hope that this opening of the door into medical marijuana will progress down the line similar to California, where recreational use is on the ballot this year.
USA today: 'Merica NYC signage arrives
[Photo by Vinny & O]
Workers hoisted the 'Merica NYC signage yesterday at 320 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
[V&O]
A commenter on the previous 'Merica post said that this is just for a pop-up event. It does sound temporary.
According to the 'Merica NYC Facebook page, the restaurant will serve food that "laughs in the face of caution and holds two middle fingers way up high, cause guess what? This is America and we eat what we want!"
Menu items include The Kanye: "Fried breast of chicken tossed in a creamy rich Alfredo sause served over mashed potatoes, then drizzled with a balsamic glaze. This meal will make you into a famous rapper and a narcissistic asshole. Ask the public to loan you the money for it. $18."
[Reader submitted photo]
This block of Sixth Street, previously known for plentiful Indian restaurants with inexpensive menu items and BYOB, is getting awfully gimmicky with 'Merica NYC (temporary or not) and the recently opened Beetle House with its Tim Burton theme.
Updated Oct. 1
Here's the latest description via Facebook...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Zerza has closed on 6th Street; Merica NYC coming soon?
Paws life for a moment to have your pet blessed tomorrow (Saturday!)
Via the EVG inbox...
In celebration of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the beloved patron saint of animals, The Church of the Immaculate Conception, located at 14th Street and First Avenue, will hold its annual Blessing of Pets in front of its main doors on Saturday Oct. 1, at one o’clock in the afternoon. We invite all to join us in this beautiful tradition of fur, feathers and family.
Carma East opens today on 6th Street
On Monday, we noted that Carma East was coming soon to 507 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Well, how soon is now — the dim sum bar opens today, per the sidewalk sign.
This is an EV outpost of Carma Asian Tapas, which specializes in dim sum, on Carmine Street in the West Village.
No announced hours (the West Village outpost is open for lunch and dinner) ... and we haven't seen a menu for this location just yet. Will update when this info becomes available.
Carma East will eventually have a new East neighbor — Out East at No. 509.
The previous restaurant here, Kin Asian Bistro, which took over from Purple Ginger, had been open for less than a year.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Purple Ginger out, Kin Asian Bistro is in on East 6th Street
The former Schnitz space is for rent
Shepard Fairey is wrapping up work on his mural on East 11th Street at First Avenue... above the space that housed Schnitz.
Several people said that they weren't aware that the sandwich specialists had closed.
We noted on Sept. 2 that the quick-serve restaurant hadn't been open in several weeks ... and that the storefront was listed for rent online.
The retail space for lease sign has been up for maybe two weeks now. According to the listing (PDF) at RKF, the asking rent is roughly $9,100 a month.
No one from Schnitz has responded about the closure via social media yet.
Schnitz, which served old-fashioned schnitzel sandwiches with unconventional toppings, opened here in March 2014. This was the first permanent retail space for Schnitz after gaining a following at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg and Dumbo.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Crossing East Houston
[Click to go big]
Although the East Houston Reconstruction project, already three years behind schedule, has been delayed again, there are some spots where work has mostly wrapped up... like at the East Houston/First Avenue/Allen Street intersection.
The markings are on the roadway for the crosswalks and bike lanes, as the above photo by Vinny & O shows.
The Department of Design and Construction has been replacing sewers, water mains, catch basins, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc., etc., along East Houston Street, from the Bowery to the FDR Drive. This work phase started in June 2010. Spring 2017 is the new completion date. Do I hear summer 2017?
[Updated] On today's grill menu: First deputy mayor Tony Shorris
As Politico New York noted, this "will mark the highest-profile public airing of the controversy surrounding the sale of Rivington House"
Back in July, Shorris answered questions during an often contentious 2.5-hour interview with an investigator working on behalf of City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Through a Freedom of Information Law request, Politico obtained the 114-page transcript of that session.
Here's an excerpt from Politico's coverage:
It also seems clear, although Shorris never says so directly, that he did not have a particularly robust or effective mode of communicating with Stacey Cumberbatch, who was commissioner of DCAS until January of this year.
Cumberbatch informed Shorris through a routine memo about the potential sale of Rivington House, which had been a city-owned building before being sold to a nonprofit running an AIDS residence in the 1990s.
Shorris explained that he did not read the memo and that some time during the latter portion of his first year on the job, he stopped reading these memos in their entirety because they were too time-consuming.
Instead, he expected commissioners to use their judgment and inform him in person or over the phone of priorities and problems. But that evolution in communication strategy was never made clear to Cumberbatch, Shorris acknowledged during questioning.
And here's how the Post covered the July 27 Shorris meeting with investigators:
First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris suffered numerous memory lapses about the Rivington Street nursing-home fiasco, telling investigators more than two dozen times that he couldn’t recall incidents, emails or details, records show.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s right-hand man claimed he couldn’t remember a meeting with Stacey Cumberbatch, a city commissioner, or the content of any conversations they had about Rivington in 2014.
When investigators tried to press Shorris over the memory lapse, his lawyer, G. Michael Bellinger, repeatedly intervened, the Post notes.
In February 2015, the Allure Group paid $28 million for the property, promising that 45 Rivington — the former Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation — would remain a health facility. In November, a city agency lifted the the deed in exchange for the Allure Group's $16 million payment to the city.
Earlier this year, Allure then reportedly sold the property for $116 million to the the Slate Property Group, a condo developer who plans to create 100 luxury residences in the building that overlooks Sara S. Roosevelt Park.
Updated 9/30
Read more about what transpired during the six-hour hearing at DNAinfo... Daily News ... The New York Times...Politico... the Post...Village Voice ...
Meanwhile! As The Lo-Down reported, the de Blasio administration plans to create affordable senior housing on the Lower East Side to make up for the loss of Rivington House. The facility will be on Pike Street.
Clearing out the Edge
Workers quickly took down the Edge signage and cleared out the former bar space on Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
As this photo via an EVG reader shows, bar stools and other items were up for grabs on the curb.
After 29 years, The Edge closed for good after service on Saturday. "We'll just say [the landlord, Thermald Realty Associates] found an opportunity to sue us for a bunch of money that we can't pay," a bar rep told us last month.
We haven't heard just yet if there is anyone lined up for the storefront... or if the space will be put on the rental market.
Verdigreen vintage furnishings boutique leaves the East Village
The storefront that sold paint and DIY supplies at 122 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue is now empty.
The owners of Verdigreen — described on their website as "a vintage redesigned furnishings boutique and handmade haven" — decided to move back to their flagship store in Montclair, N.J.
Per their website:
[W]e have learned that our customers in the city prefer to order paint remotely and have it delivered, that most of NYC is unaware of the magic of Chalk Paint®, and that a storefront isn’t required to service those who are. We are offering next business day delivery for phone/online orders in order to continue to service our NYC customers.
We will miss the sense of community in the East Village and appreciate all of you who came to visit and patronize our small shop!
The shop opened here in the spring of 2015. This space was previously home to La Belle Crepe.
Tonkatsuya has apparently closed on 6th Street
Zerza isn't the only recent closure to note on East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
Tonkatsuya has been dark all month at No. 328. The Japanese restaurant's webite has been taken down and the phone number isn't in service.
The restaurant just opened in March... taking over the space from Sri Lankan specialists Banana Leaf, which also only lasted a few months.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Shepard Fairey creating a mural on 11th Street at 1st Avenue
[Photo by EVG reader Annabelle]
Shepard Fairey started work today on a mural above the former Schnitz space on 11th Street at First Avenue...
[Photo by Lola Sáenz]
The mural is his second collaboration with the L.I.S.A Project.
Back in the spring/summer of 2010, Fairey's May Day piece on the Bowery Mural wall was bombed and eventually destroyed.
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