Saturday, November 26, 2016

Coming soon: The 8th annual St. Nicholas Cookie Walk



In case you didn't see the signage up at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on Avenue A at 10th Street ... for your holiday planning purposes, the 8th annual Cookie Walk is happening this year on Dec. 10-11.

Sale hours are Dec. 10 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Dec. 11 from noon to 3 p.m. However! Per the St. Nicholas website:

Come early Saturday for the best selection of cookies. Please understand that WE CAN SELL OUT and close before the Sunday times listed above. Please check here for Sunday opening updates! (if at all possible, try to come on Saturday)

In total, there will be more than 75 varieties totaling 50,000 cookies for sale, per the St. Nicholas website.

Also for planning purposes: Dec. 10 is the announced date for this year's SantaCon, though the neighborhood(s) involved are still under wraps.

Tree Riders on 2nd Avenue



One more Christmas/holiday tree note... the Tree Riders NYC set up their tree shop yesterday outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street... this is their 6th year here... and they always have the tallest/largest trees available in case you need one for an office lobby or outdoor plaza...



Previously on EV Grieve:
So you want to buy a tree for the holidays in the East Village

Another holiday season with Jonathan, the cheery Christmas-tree salesman of 1st Avenue

Friday, November 25, 2016

This charming man



Here's a single from Brooklyn's Overlord from last year titled "I Want To Die With You, Morrissey."

They're on a bill tomorrow night at the Cake Shop with My Favorite, Kew and Kevin of The Hairs.

The Sock Man opens in new location on St. Mark's Place today


[Photo the other day by Derek Berg]

The new location of the Sock Man opens today at 99 1/2 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Hours are noon to 10 p.m.)

A rent increase forced the Sock Man (aka Marty Rosen) to close his longtime shop at 27 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue back in January. Rosen had been peddling socks, tights, lingerie and other accessories in this space since 1983. (Landlord Raphael Toledano, who took possession in September 2015, is now flipping the building.)

Very good to see the Sock Man back in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Sock Man is closing on St. Mark's Place

The Sock Man says thank you; store closes on Saturday

Closing portraits at The Sock Man

The scoop on the former Sock Man space on St. Mark's Place

The Sock Man is returning to St. Mark's Place

Former East Village Tavern space for rent



As we first reported, East Village Tavern closed after service on Sunday evening.

Management of the corner bar on 10th Street and Avenue C left this message on Facebook last Saturday: "It is with a heavy heart that we regret to announce that do to a disagreement with our landlord, the East Village Tavern will be closing..."

Steve Croman, who was arrested back in May on 20 felony counts, is the building's landlord. Eviction proceedings happened here earlier this week when the Marshal came calling...



A rep for Croman's 9300 Realty told this to The Real Deal:

"We are sad to see a long standing tenant close its doors, but unfortunately the business has been unable to consistently pay its rent in the last 12 months. We have made several attempts to strike a deal to settle the debt however given there has been no effort to make payment on the more than $78,000 that is owed, we were forced to part ways with our tenant."

The bar opened in May 2008.

American Deli & Grocery closes after a few months on 1st Avenue



The deli has been dark here at 139 First Ave. for the past week (h/t Steven) ... and now a for rent sign hangs in the window of the American Deli & Grocery between St. Mark's and Ninth Street. The deli opened back in June. (Perhaps businesses with a variation of America in the title aren't such great ideas at the moment.)

The space was previously home to the hookah joint Scarab Lounge.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving



Hope that you are enjoying the day cooking, eating, thanking, visiting, avoiding, etc.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Here come the wooden display racks for the Christmas tree of your dreams



The usual Christmas/holiday stand is going up now on East Houston and Essex... haven't walked around all the usual spots just yet (such as outside Rite Aid on First Avenue at Fifth Street, 14th Street and First Avenue, St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue) ...

However, there's a stand coming to a different location this season — Second Avenue at Seventh Street...



...outside the empty lot that housed the three buildings that were destroyed during the deadly gas explosion in March 2015. Perhaps this is an effort to make the corner more festive ... or just bad judgement.

Updated 6:30 p.m.

Lola Sáenz shares a pic of a snowperson going up the pole...



Updated 11/24

Thanks to the commenter who pointed out the arrival of the Santa RV on 14th Street and First Avenue...



Updated 11/28

There's also a tree stand on East Houston near Avenue C...



Out and About in the East Village (part 2)

In this ongoing 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: Eric Paulin
Occupation: Musician
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m.

In part 1, Paulin, a native New Yorker, discussed coming to the East Village starting in the summer of 1968 to see shows at the Fillmore East.

I’ve been in my building since May of 1979, so I’m coming up on 38 years. I’ve had some bad experiences with a couple of bad landlords in this neighborhood who owned my building. When I moved in, there was a great and extremely interesting person who owned the building named Kent Cooper. He was an East Village hero in my opinion. He was a writer, and he owned a small record company. They recorded jazz, blues, avant-garde jazz and blues-rock. He ran the record company out of his apartment.

Everybody on the block respected Kent. He did a lot of people favors. Kent bought the building for an extremely good price in the early 1970s, and he was actually struggling at the time. It was a lot of money for him; he had to take out a bank loan, and he worked tooth and nail to keep that building going. He would do repairs himself, and he did whatever he could.

If tenants were late on rent, he would give them a break. He would let me work off rent sometimes by doing superintendent duties, or by helping him and a couple contractors do work. He had a big heart, especially for creative people who were struggling or having a hard time — who weren’t using drugs, weren’t drinking ... who were just basically trying to fight the good fight with their creative pursuits.

Unfortunately, Kent sold the building in February 1987 to an extremely bad landlord. They started a renovation process in the building that should have taken six months or less. It was basically a gut renovation of 10 units and there was myself and another older gentlemen in the building. The renovation ended up taking 13 or 14 months, and the owners and contractors put myself and the older tenant through a living hell.

I was in housing court with them from mid-summer of 1988 until late fall of 1991. Because I was a freelance musician, I would do a gig, get home sometimes at 2 or 3 in the morning, sleep for a few hours, and then put on a shirt and tie and go to housing court with my documents, my HPD reports and my photographs. I was very organized. The whole thing was an excruciating process.

We were able to withhold our rent and put it in an escrow account, which the judge approved. In the end, I ended up winning the case, and I got what they called a landmark decision against my landlord, which was a decision in a court of law where that combination of elements had never come together to form that kind of case, therefore getting a certain decision on that case. Because it was a pretty cut-and-dry matter, it should have been solved in a few months, but because the landlord was dragging out and was not showing up to court and was constantly lying and trying to deceive the court and even their own lawyer about what happened.

In the spring of 1991, the building went into receivership because they weren’t paying the bank. So they weren’t paying their bank; they weren’t paying their lawyer; and they also weren’t paying their contractors who worked in the building.

So I won my court case, but about a year and a half later, I was in court with the next landlord, who actually turned out to be a very decent landlord, and a much better landlord than some others. We resolved that case out of mutual consent, and we were able to work it out between us without any problems. They offered me money to leave. It seemed like a lot of money at the time, and it especially would have been to a lot of lower income or struggling people, who might have taken the buyout. But I didn’t do it, because I thought to myself, I love New York, and if I leave, there’s no way I’ll be able to come back and be able to afford to live here.

My first experiences playing music in Tompkins Square Park go back to 1981. The park was dangerous and there was a lot of crime. I would walk through here because I knew how to handle myself in the neighborhood, and because people knew me, but the drug dealers were using a lot of homeless people to help them sell drugs or whatever. We used to play different places in the park, me and three or four of my jazz buddies. I think people appreciate that there’s jazz in Tompkins Square Park, where all these great jazz musicians lived in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

In those days, we actually used to do very well busking. We used to busk in Washington Square Park in the late 1970s with a jazz quartet and jazz quintet. We were one of the first groups to do it. In those days, I could just go on forever busking, and you could actually make very decent money busking in the late 1970s and early 1980s, because you didn’t have a lot of laws.

Today, we have a permit with the MTA, the Music Under New York Program, and when we don’t have a gig, we can been seen playing in the subway once or twice a week, where I also play with my jazz quartet. We play usually either on Friday or Saturday night, usually at 34th Street and 6th Avenue or Times Square.

My wife is also in the group, which is named The Meetles. We started from a meet-up group where we would talk about the Beatles. We specialize in classic rock ... and it’s nice to bring that to the East Village, because a lot of that was born and developed because of the Fillmore East and all of these great clubs all up and down St. Mark's Place.

In the end, I hope that the East Village and all neighborhoods like the East Village retain their original character and identity. I love walking up and down the streets in New York and seeing the old buildings that have been up for 120 years. I love Tompkins Square Park. I love the old architecture. I love the old timers who have interesting stories to tell. I love the creative people and the interesting people.

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

Thanksgiving Week at the Bowery Mission


[Image via @BoweryMission]

The Bowery Mission is celebrating its 137th Thanksgiving Week. Yesterday, James Winans, the Bowery Mission's chief development officer, shared a few details about the around-the-clock preparations ...

During its 137th annual Thanksgiving Week celebration, The Bowery Mission will serve more than 11,000 meals — 7,000 on Thanksgiving Day alone — to men, women and children in all five boroughs of New York City and in Newark, N.J.

On Thanksgiving day at the Mission’s flagship location (227 Bowery between Prince and Rivington Streets), more than 650 volunteers will prepare traditional turkey dinners and serve 1,800 guests in the Mission’s century-old chapel filled with music and festive decorations for the holiday.

Meals will be served at 227 Bowery every hour on the hour from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to a turkey dinner, each guest will receive a brand new coat and a “blessing bag” including socks, a winter hat, gloves, and hygiene items.

The food and gifts, as well as financial support, have been donated over several weeks by a diverse array of generous donors. We appreciate the support from the following partners:

• Major Partner: The Hain Celestial Group, Inc
• Partners: Bombas, Buzzfeed
• Supporters: Bloomberg, Con Edison, Deutsche Bank, Kenneth Cole Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment

Frozen: A Raphael Toledano-style turkey dinner on 12th Street for residents without cooking gas


[Image via Facebook]

Residents at the Raphael Toledano-owned 325 E. 12th St. say they have been without gas for cooking for more than six months now. Yesterday morning, some of the tenants, along with other members of the Toledano Tenant Coalition, held a protest and "Toledano-Style Turkey Dinner" — featuring Banquet frozen turkey dinners — here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

A handful of tenants announced that they are taking the under-investigation landlord to court. Here's more via an advisory from the Cooper Square Committee:

Now eight of the tenants are fighting Raphael Toledano in court for an order to restore the gas — one that his lawyers are vehemently resisting. While Mr. Toledano and his agents are likely enjoying warm and cozy kitchens filled with the aroma of holiday cooking, the kitchens of 325 East 12th Street will be cold & empty… except, perhaps, for the echo of Mr. Toledano, spouting empty promises of gas restoration and better relations with his tenants. Mr. Toledano has refused to meet face to face with tenants and elected officials on two occasions and opted to send his legal team (Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, LLP) instead.

And a statement:

"The Toledano Tenant Coalition believes that Mr. Toledano continues to harass tenants by unreasonable non-renewal of leases and through slow, poorly managed building construction designed to make tenant’s homes unlivable. The coalition also asserts that Mr. Toledano has irresponsibly forced both stabilized and market rate tenants to live for months without cooking gas in buildings overrun with vermin. The coalition remains committed to ending what they see as Mr. Toledano’s campaign against the tenants that call his buildings home."

Sen. Brad Hoylman also attended yesterday's protest...


Bedford + Bowery has more on yesterday's Toledano-turkey gathering here.

Back in August, Toledano’s Brookhill Properties held a poorly received ice cream social for its residents, including the 12th Street tenants without gas for cooking. At the time, a Toledano spokesperson told The Real Deal that it was up to Con Ed and the city to address the situation. However, a Con Ed rep said that the shutdown at No. 325 "was prompted by an internal gas leak at the 12th Street building and that the company can’t restore service until Toledano makes necessary repairs."

Toledano, who told a reporter for The Real Deal in June that he's "worth a fuckload of money, bro," has been accused of a variety of predatory practices. In addition, 20 of his buildings were tested for toxic levels of dust. In May, Toledano agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged that he harassed rent-regulated residents at 444 E. 13th St.

He is currently selling several buildings from his East Village portfolio.

Get smart at this new cafe on Lafayette



Back in July, we noted that a café/coffee shop was in the works for 372 Lafayette St. called Honeybrains. At the time, there wasn't much info available about the concept.

Here's more about Honeybrains, opening this week here between Bond and Great Jones, via their website:

Honeybrains was sparked by a conversation between three siblings, which evolved into a deeper exploration of the relationship between ingredients, health, and flavor. One of the siblings is a neurologist who has spent years studying how nutrition and lifestyle affect brain function. His research became a focal point of their discussion.

Ultimately, this conversation led to the creation of new recipes, and a new experience, with the well-being of people at their core. Together, they started Honeybrains to translate the most reliable, collective scientific knowledge about brain health – which is intimately related to body health – into enjoyable foods, drinks, and experiences.

Dr. Alon Seifan, who co-owns the café with siblings Galit and Tomer, worked as an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine’s neurology facility, according to a Honeybrains feature in the Post yesterday.

Per the Post: "Honeybrains, which the threesome claim is the first café dedicated to brain wellness, is in part dedicated to fighting diseases like Alzheimer’s."

Among other things, the 35-seat grab-and-go-style café features a HoneyBar (raw honey) as well as breakfast offerings such as
power oatmeal with quinoa, spiced coconut milk and manuka honey and a variety of toasts, including kale crunch and avocado smash.

You can find the rest of the menu here.