A spin through Downtown Yarns on Avenue A

East Village-based photographer Gudrun Georges recently highlighted one of her favorite shops in the neighborhood — Downtown Yarns, 45 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street.

From Gudrun's photo site:

Rita Bobry, the owner who studied art and loves to work with colors, opened this gem of a store 17 years ago ...

The store has a finely edited collection of yarns, many of them local and sustainable, as well as all of the necessary supplies for the needle crafts.

The store offers a whole range of classes from beginner classes to advanced sweater design workshops. The super friendly staff is always happy to help.

There is Rita who besides being an expert knitter always comes up with the most stunning window displays.

You can find more of Gudrun's photos from Downtown Yarns here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Favorite East Village places: Ink on A

Avant-Garde-Arama at Performance Space grand re-opening

[Alexandra Tatarsky]

Photos and text by Dan Efram

Performance Space New York — formerly PS 122 — celebrated its grand reopening with a free night of their longest-running program "Avant-Garde-Arama" on Sunday night.

The multi-stage show welcomed hundreds of people to check out the wonderful renovated venues in the building on First Avenue at Ninth Street and kick off its new season in earnest. You can find the full list of performers here.


[Pharmakon]


[Cornelius Loy]


[Pat Oleszko and Brooks Leslie]


[Murray Hill backstage]


[Charles Dennis]


[Salley May]


[The audience]

Performance Space is hosting an East Village Series through June. Find that schedule here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's the sidewalk bridge-free corner of 9th Street and 1st Avenue — and the 122 Community Center

Come along on a tour of the under-renovation 122 Community Center on 1st Avenue

All is quiet at 75 1st Ave.

The first level of the incoming condoplex at 75 First Ave. recently made it above the plywood here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street... However, the site remains locked up... the city served up a full stop work order back on Jan. 12.

The DOB complaint notes "no protection for pedestrians" (not all that safe for cyclists either as the construction site and trucks take up the bike lane) ...



DOB records show that there's an outstanding $10,000 penalty due as well for "failure to designate and/or have a construction superintendent present as required."

Sales commenced last August for the 8-floor, 22-unit condoplex. The four units on the market are asking between $1.79 million and $2.25 million.



Things seem to be progressing pretty slowly here. We noted the foundation work here dating back to October 2016. And it's not a very large site.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue

High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play

Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering

Report: Long-dormant 1st Avenue development site changes hands

Plywood report and the future of 75 1st Ave. (Spoiler: condos)

Sales underway for Rite Aid-adjacent condoplex on 1st Avenue

Last weekend for the Stone on Avenue C

The Stone wraps up its 13-year run (some 7,500 performances, and no refreshments or merchandise!) this weekend on Avenue C at Second Street.

John Zorn announced back in December 2016 that he would be relocating his experimental performance space ... which turned out to be at the Glass Box Theatre at the New School. (Zorn has been hosting weekend residencies there since June.)

As the Voice reported in early 2017:

He will continue as artistic director of the nonprofit venue, with musicians doing all the curating and volunteers providing support. Artists will continue to receive all revenue from tickets, which will remain priced at $20. The seating capacity — 74 — will stay the same. “And our aesthetic will not alter one bit,” Zorn said.

For Zorn, the move isn’t one of need, his club’s lease wasn’t up. “It was simply time for a change,” he said.

The final show on Avenue C is Sunday night. Find the lineup of remaining shows here.

The corner space hit the market last August. The listing, which stipulated "no bars," is off the market as of Dec. 17.

The NYPD's 9th Precinct hosting a blood drive tomorrow (Thursday!)

Noon to 6 p.m. at the Ninth Precinct, 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Checking in on the dislodged Webster Hall marquee

As we first reported back on Sunday, the Webster Hall marquee became partially dislodged from the front of the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

On Monday, workers started erecting a sidewalk bridge for protection until repairs can be made. Steven shared these photos from this morning ... where workers appear to continue to secure the marquee...



With the temporary structure in place, 11th Street is open again to traffic.

The new owners of the building, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, filed permits in December to renovate the facility — for use in years ahead as a concert hall — and make it ADA compliant. Those permits are still waiting the city's approval, per the DOB.

Report: Financial firm takes the Death Star penthouse

A quick note about a new tenant at 51 Astor Place/IBM Watson Building/Death Star at Third Avenue and Ninth Street.

Los Weiss at the Post has the story.

Details!

CBAM Partners, a fast-growing financial firm with $6.8 billion under management, is moving from Hudson Yards to 51 Astor Place, where it will have a dramatic 12th-floor penthouse of 25,401 square feet.

And what of the previous 12th-floor tenant?

Its former occupant, Claren Road Asset Management, was a financial darling, but in 2015, it was rocked by billions of dollars in redemptions. The following year, backer Carlyle handed back its 55 percent stake to the founders. Claren Road’s market value was down to $891,000 last fall.

Sources said the company gave back the space to 51 Astor developer Edward J. Minskoff Equities...

Pile driving for new building on Avenue C prompts arrival of crack monitors next door

Last week I noted that the pile driving had started up again at the development site on Avenue C and Houston Street/Second Street where 10 floors of luxury rentals are slated.

There were multiple complaints filed with the city earlier last year about the construction possibly destabilizing the building next door — 249 E. Second St. There was a partial stop-work order issued in April 2017 when No. 249 reportedly shifted.

Anyway, since the last post, workers have erected a sidewalk bridge at No. 249 and enveloped the building in scaffolding ...





There's a new work permit for the address "for minor parapet repair work."

Meanwhile, a resident in the building shared this about the pile driving:

The developers of the building next door originally considered buying 249 E. 2nd Street in order to empty it of tenants but in the end decided it would take too long. They may regret that decision now. The current situation began almost a year ago when the city ruled on 3/21/2017, the construction in the adjacent lot damaged 249 E. 2nd Street. The city’s ECB Violation report ( DOB Violation Number 032117EX103JT04 and readily viewable online at the DOB site ) cited Noble Construction GR LLC of 1 Harmon Plaza, Secaucus, NY, for “FAILURE TO SAFEGUARD ALL PERSONS AND PROPERTY AFFECTED BY CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS NOTED: THAT DURING DRILLING OPERATIONS AT CONSTRUCTION SITE CONTRACTOR CREATED DAMAGES TO THE ADJOINING FOUNDATION OF BUILDING 249.”

A violation categorized as “Aggravated Offense Level 2.” There was a partial stop work order. The construction company could not do any more work accept to perform abatements of the damage it had done to 249 E. 2nd Street. Evidence of the damage was plentiful in the numerous prominent cracks in interior hallway walls and around door jambs, the sure sign of the building having shifted.

When last week’s pile driving began it was so severe tenants in four surrounding buildings spontaneously gathered in the street to discuss a collective action to thwart the construction activity and set off a flood of complaints to the DOB through the city’s 311 complaint phone line. Which is what originally brought the inspection that resulted in the previous violation citation.

249 E. 2nd Street now has surveyor’s gauges permanently affixed to key parts of the exterior, and crack monitors on the interior hallway damage, to facility monitoring of the ongoing situation. Almost every day surveyors are taking readings to catch any further building damage. Where this will end is anyone’s guess. But there is absolutely no mistaking the danger to the tenancies of the current occupants of 249 E. 2nd Street.

The reader also shared photos of the crack monitors...







When complete, the all-new 11 Avenue C will have 4,600 square feet of ground-level retail, 45 residential apartments and a landscaped roof terrace.

Top three photos from Saturday

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units

A look inside the last East Village gas station

Pile driving resumes at the site of the East Village's last gas station, where a 10-floor building will rise

Awaiting repairs for a sidewalk vault on 4th Street

Here's a quick look at 125 E. Fourth St., the site of a partial sidewalk collapse this past Dec. 16.

A worker at the Ultra Nail Beauty Salon reportedly was preparing to open the shop around 10:40 a.m. here between First Avenue and Second Avenue when a 5x4 section of the sidewalk caved in, sending the worker plunging into the building's basement. (Her injuries were apparently not life-threatening.)

According to the Daily News, the DOB issued "aggravated violations" to the property owner for failing "to maintain the building in a safe manner." (This is a co-op building. Public records list the owner as: 125 East 4th Street Owner Corp.)

There doesn't appear to be much activity taking place outside the storefronts. There is, however, an approved work permit on file with the DOB for "replacement of sidewalk vault."

For now, the nail salon remains shuttered. Manny's Barber Shop is for rent...



However, Manny was able to move into the empty space next door shortly after the collapse...



Also on this side of the block, closer to First Avenue, Icon Realty is now renting the former Lavender Mini Spa space...



The asking rent is $6,000 for 600 square feet, per the listing.

Bad news for fans of Siggy's Good Food

[Image via]

Siggy's Good Food, the all-organic restaurant where aliens eat free, has announced that it's closing up shop on Elizabeth Street just north of Houston. Saturday is the last day for service — in NYC anyway.

The farewell note that Siggy's posted on its social media accounts points to multiple reasons for the closure, including "bureaucratic, economy..." And Siggy's is moving to Charlotte, N.C.



Siggy's debuted on Elizabeth Street in July 2012. Owner Siggy Sollitto opened her first location in Brooklyn Heights in 2005. That outpost closed in 2015.

Sollitto said this to Brooklyn Paper in 2015:

[S]he said city regulations are making it tough to run a business in [Manhattan], citing the health department as a particularly pronounced source of headaches.

“The city administration is really making things impossible for a small business,” she said.

Thanks to @ThisIsWeber for the tip!

Tuesday's parting shots

A few skateboarding scenes on this spring day (Feb. 20) ... photos by Derek Berg...

A London-based hairdresser is giving free haircuts to the homeless in Tompkins Square Park

This afternoon, EVG regular Lola Sāenz spotted London-based hairdresser Joshua Coombes giving free haircuts (and shaves) to the homeless in Tompkins Square Park.

You can watch this "National Geographic" segment on Coombes, who believes small acts of kindness can make a big impact.

Per a feature on him from June 2017 in The Washington Post:

Two years ago, he founded the campaign #DoSomethingForNothing. His mission: to make a positive impact by giving haircuts to homeless people he meets on city streets, connecting with them on a human level and sharing their stories on social media. So far he has cut the hair of hundreds of homeless people, including a few women.

You can see more of his work with the homeless on his Instagram account.