Chi Ken, the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Store, no longer coming to St. Mark's Place

[Photo from May 2017]

Chi Ken, the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Store, had been set for 58 St. Mark's Place. The signage first arrived in February 2017.

Apparently that's no longer in the works — a for rent sign is now up on the storefront here between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Next door, Clay Pot, serving traditional Hong Kong style open-flame cooked clay pot rice, opened in February...

Dog days of summer (obviously)

A short film by Grant Shaffer... shot today on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...

August 22nd 2018

August 22nd 2018

Emerging from a Summer

that never seemed able

to pass that over bearing

mix of: too hot, too humid,

too wet, too long, just too …

will we now be teased by

a breeze, a night

cool enough to sleep

false security, maligned teasing

summers cruel little joke

what did I expect

an unreasonable summer of old

foolish I know, just call me a

Pollyanna. In the summer sweat,

hopefully, in the Winter shiver.

•

peter radley

A look at the East River Park Track, due to reopen next month

[Reader-submitted photo from Sept. 18, 2017]

Last Sept. 18, the Parks Department shut down the the East River Park Track at the FDR and Sixth Street — without any advance notice — for a year-long renovation project.

Well, here we are almost one year later... and according to the Parks Department website, the construction is 84 percent complete.



A look at the track yesterday shows that work is wrapping up... with noticeable progress... and few, if any, alarming signs (like, say, mounds of dirt on a muddy track)...







The $2.8 million initiative was set to "reconstruct the synthetic turf soccer field and resurface the running track," per the Parks Department website, which includes this rendering highlighting all the improvements...


[Click on image for more detail]

A Parks Department official said the track will reopen on Sept. 10 [Updated 9/12: That didn't happen] ... with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to follow.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The East River Park Track is now closed for renovations; September 2018 reopening expected

Cholo Noir is currently closed 4 renovations

Several readers have noted that Cholo Noir has been closed since at least Aug. 19 here on Sixth Street just east of Avenue A ... Handwritten signs arrived on the front back on Aug. 22 noting a closure for (4) renovations...



There's no mention of the temporary closure on their website or social media properties. Their phone is currently not in service.

Cholo Noir, a Chicano-inspired bar-restaurant, opened in July 2017.

As previously reported, CB3 twice denied a liquor license for the proprietors in 2016 ... among other reasons, there are 20-plus full on-premises liquor licenses within 500 feet of the address. CB3 members also didn't see much public benefit from the concept on a mostly residential block in a nightlife-saturated neighborhood.

Given the amount of work that they already put into the space, ownership went to the State Liquor Authority for a license.

In 2014, the owners received $15,000 by winning the New York Public Library’s New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another no for Cholo Noir

'Low and Slow' on 6th and A

Shinbashi Sushi hasn't been open lately

Over at 85 First Ave., the gate has been down lately at Shinbashi Sushi between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. There aren't any notes on the storefront to note a closure for one reason or another... and the phone is currently not in service.

Shinbashi Sushi opened in the spring of 2016 ... and I've never heard anything about the place. The Yelp reviews range from "Excellent excellent excellent excellent!!!" to "WHATEVER YOU DO...DO NOT EAT HERE!"

Before the sushi arrived, the small space sat empty... the previous tenant was the wine shop Tinto Fino, which closed in May 2013.

And... several years earlier...


[Photo from 1997 by EVG reader Dave Buchwald]

... it was Mod World, the boutique that had a 12-year-run here between 1994 and 2006.

A good happy hour

$2 cold brew at the Juicy Lucy's stand on First and First... 4-6 p.m. Monday though Friday.

Health scare for remaining red-tailed fledgling in Tompkins Square Park

[The fledgling with its eyes closed on Friday via Steven]

We've already lost one fledgling (due to rodenticide) this summer in Tompkins Square Park ... and back on Friday and Saturday, things weren't looking good for his sibling.

Goggla was on the scene for a good portion of the weekend, even helping Ranger Rob try to capture the fledgling for evaluation.

Here's part of Goggla's report from yesterday:

The fledgling spent all of Saturday perched high in the trees, remaining very still with his eyes closed and his head often dropped forward. I really didn't think he'd make it through the day and prepared for the worst.

Then, around 7 p.m., he opened his eyes and looked alert. He flew to a bench where he looked unsteady, but still managed to catch a rat. After eating, he flew to a low branch hanging over the main lawn and stayed there until dark.

But by Sunday morning...

I returned ... and was relieved and elated to see the entire hawk family — fledgling, Christo and Amelia — flying around the park. They all perched together in their favorite locust tree on the east side of the park and the fledgling loudly harassed his parents for food for several hours.

Find more about this health scare here.


[Fledgling photo by Steven]

-----

This fledgling has proven to be quite precocious this summer. I was going to post this early last week...


[Photo by Goggla]

Goggla has an excellent update on the fledgling in Tompkins Square Park, who is enjoying exploring every nook and crazy of his surroundings... learning the trade from his parents Amelia and Christo...



Read all about it here.

Meanwhile, in other red-tailed hawk activity... Zak Wojnar shared these photos on Aug. 16 from Essex and Canal, across from Seward Park ... showing a juvenile red-tailed hawk dining on a pigeon on a fire escape ...







Previously on EV Grieve:
The red-tailed fledgling is having the most fun in Tompkins Square Park

Tuesdays at Sophie's

Kyle de Vre is never without a camera. So it made sense that de Vre, an East Village resident who has worked at Sophie's for the past four-and-a-half years, would put his camera to use while behind the bar.

During his Tuesday afternoon bartending shifts, de Vre started taking portraits of patrons seated in the comfortably worn bar on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The results can be seen in a new photo book, appropriately titled "See You Next Tuesday," which he'll release in a limited edition next Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Sophie's.

As he writes about the project on his website: "All of the subjects positively impact the neighborhood in one way, shape or form. Community is important and these are the types of people that make this neighborhood special."





I asked de Vre a few questions about the book.

What compelled you to start taking photos of patrons from behind the bar?

I had brought my camera to Sophie's a few times over the first two-to-three years that I worked there. I mostly took street photography as well as photos when I travelled. I got a new camera early last year, which was great for taking portraits — something I had never really done before.

So I started taking it into the bar every Tuesday because I knew I would have subjects to shoot. There was just enough light in the bar that I could [take photos] without a tripod or flash on Tuesday afternoons.

At what point did the idea for a book come about?

A friend was on the phone and I just started taking photos of him from behind the bar. Although the images weren't the greatest, the idea and framing were there.

So the next week, [my friend] Kayla came into the bar to chat with someone. I asked her if I could take her photo from behind the bar — more so along the lines of a traditional portrait. I shot four images of her while she drank her gin and tonic. When I saw the photos, it just kind of clicked in my head — why not start taking photos of everyone I know who visits me on Tuesdays.

What is your favorite thing about - or any day — at Sophie's?

The Tuesday day shift was just my first shift at Sophie's. Every day at Sophie's is pretty much any old day at Sophie's — and that's why I like it.







The "See You Next Tuesday" book launch is Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 9 p.m. at Sophie's, 507 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. All photos by Kyle de Vre. Posted with permission.

A new look outside for the 11th Street Bar

Over on 11th Street, Vinny & O shared these photos of the new awning outside the 11th Street Bar between Avenue A and Avenue B...



Back in the late spring, Dan Sweeney, a bartender at the pub these past seven-plus years, took over the ownership (along with his partners, Diarmuid and Meghan Joye).

Sweeney told EVG correspondent Steven in May that they weren't planning on many changes, aside from a new awning. So check that one off the last.

The bar also has a new website (unveiled yesterday), which you can find here. The 11th Street Bar has also continued its free live-music programming five nights a week.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A (familiar) new owner for the 11th Street Bar