3rd Annual Alphabet City Short Film Festival is Saturday at the 6BC Botanical Garden

The 6BC Botanical Garden, located on Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, is playing host to the 3rd Annual Alphabet City Short Film Festival Saturday evening.

Here's info via Facebook:

Join us for a rare screening of diverse shorts by local filmmakers. Curated by 6BC member and filmmaker Kris Enos.

• “I Aint Lazy, I'm Just Dreamin” 2015, 7 minutes
A concept music video that harkens back (...or forward?) to a time of hobo prophets, mulligan stew, orange ladies, bowery boys, bawdy vaudeville acts, and the fuzz. A burlesque club musician en route to work imagines magical dreams ... or is he living them? Featuring cameos by several Downtown NYC filmmakers and performers.
Director: Bill Poznanski

• "SunnySide Up" 2003, 26 minutes
A comedy from NYC... Where do babies come from? Marie doesn't want to know, but she's going to find out.
Director: Charles Krezell

• “Downfall” 1989, 6 minutes
An experimental documentary, shot between 1988-1989. The East Village May Day protests, interspersed with New York City Marathon footage. The demolition and beginnings of gentrification in Alphabet City — a neighborhood under siege.
Director: Kris Enos

• “Willow Weep For Me” 2017, 8 minutes
After 41 years of Cher, a willow tree beloved by her community and strongly identified with La Plaza, she's dismantled for the neighborhood safety. Her life is celebrated with a wake in the garden, officiated by community members.
Director: Alvah Holmes

• Mahagonny Songspiel Animation Reel” 2018, 5 minutes
Hand-painted animation inspired by Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht's early operatic work. The city of Mahagonny offers prosperity, but its citizens prove to be its undoing.
Director: Klay-James Enos

• “Penelope & Kennedy” 2017, 19 minutes
Two women face the challenges of their unique relationship.
Director: Anthony Laura

The films start at 8 p.m.

Emmy Squared's owners are bringing grilled pizza to the former GG's space on 5th Street

[EVG file photo]

Matt and Emily Hyland, who run Emily and Emmy Squared, have announced their intentions for the former GG's space on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

In a fall preview at New York magazine, the Hylands say they'll be bringing the under-represented grilled ­pizza to the address.

The Hylands reportedly went to "grilled-pizza mecca" Al Forno in Providence, R.I., on their first date while attending Roger Williams University.

Per New York:

Hyland plans to cook his pizzas over a hybrid gas-and-charcoal grill. The key, he says, is achieving a crust that’s crisp, but not cracker-crisp, and also soft. He’ll use a nifty combo of Fontina, Pecorino, and a fancy, eminently meltable Jasper Hill Farm shredded-cheese blend on some of the pies. And that’s not all. More so than at their other restaurants, the kitchen will delve into non-pizza dishes including housemade pastas like spaghetti chitarra with clams and bonito butter; grilled whole fish and head-on shrimp; and johnnycakes treated like polenta and topped with, say, roasted mushrooms and bitter greens.

Emmy Squared was originally thought to be taking over GG's. However, that space has been dormant since GG's closed on Dec. 23.

Emmy Squared, with its Detroit-style pizza and double burgers, opened on First Avenue at Fifth Street in July.

The still-unnamed grilled pizzeria is expected to open in November, per New York.

Gotham Pizza looks closed

Several readers in recent days have noted that Gotham Pizza has not been open during its usual business hours ... with the space cleaned out here on 12th Street at Third Avenue, as these photos by EVG reader Laura K. show (and H/T @JCooper911!) ...



Gotham's phone is still in service, though there isn't any answer. The various online delivery services note that this Gotham location isn't currently taking any orders.

The pizzeria, part of a mini chain, opened here in August 2016.

Their slices were serviceable though nothing spectacular... and why bother with the excellent slices at Joe's beckoning around the corner on 14th Street. And telling — despite the proximity to five dorms (four NYU and one New School), Gotham Pizza never seemed all that busy.

The corner space last served up the FroYo via Funkiberry. There were more slices before this with AAA (New) Amici Pizza.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Funkiberry-replacing pizzeria revealed on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry closed on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry space is for lease on 3rd Avenue

Hey, Funkiberry is now open on 3rd Avenue

Hey, the Funkiberry sign is up on 3rd Avenue

The Detox Market now open on East Houston

More than two years after the new-building reveal, 76 E. Houston St. at Elizabeth has a new tenant... the Detox Market recently opened for business.

This is the first NYC outpost for the shop, with multiple locations in Los Angeles and Toronto, that offers "green beauty brands to detoxify your life" ...



The two-story structure, which is adjacent to the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall (also owned by Goldman Properties), was a long time coming. Construction took several years. (BoweryBoogie reported in October 2014 that work slowed down here due to Certificate of Occupancy issues and a dispute over the property line.)

No. 76 was previously home to the big top of Billy's Antiques.


[EVG photo from 2011]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Deal off to bring Crif Dogs to the former Billy's Antiques space

The Houston/Bowery Mural Wall has been boarded up

Full stop work order for 76 E. Houston St., and the return of Billy's Antiques (sort of)

Checking in on the incoming building at 'the four corners of Downtown'

The painting Billy Leroy left behind

Banksy's grim reaper and the old Bowery ghosts

Wednesday's parting shot

The fledgling ponders a sign in Tompkins Square Park today... photo by Steven.

Report: Developer Gregg Singer says Mayor de Blasio lied about city's P.S. 64 outreach

During a recent media roundtable at Brooklyn Borough Hall, Mayor de Blasio said that Gregg Singer, who owns the former P.S. 64 on Ninth Street, "has been exceedingly uncooperative" about selling the building back to the city, as The Villager reported.

However, Singer told Patch that he hasn't heard from anyone at the mayor's office about the property he bought in a city auction in 1998.

Some background: During a town hall forum at P.S. 188 last October, de Blasio said that the Giuliani administration should not have auctioned off the property, and that he would work to "right the wrongs of the past," as DNAifno reported.

"For the administration to put that building into private hands failed miserably, and we’ve seen the negative affect that that has had on the community. So I'm announcing tonight the city's interest in re-acquiring that building," de Blasio said, eliciting cheers from the audience.

And during the media roundtable on Aug. 23, de Blasio said the following, as reported by The Villager:

“We’ve tried to have a productive conversation about purchase,” he said. “We’ve gotten nowhere so far. We’re not giving up. We’re working very closely with the councilmember, Carlina Rivera. I’m very frustrated with that owner.”

Eminent domain, though it may not be an immediate option, is “certainly something I want to know more about, but I had hoped the best solution here would be a direct purchase,” de Blasio explained. “That’s not off the table. It’s just we’re just not getting any cooperation so far.”

And as Patch reported last Friday afternoon:

"When I read the report that Mayor de Blasio told the media that I had been 'exceedingly uncooperative,' I was astonished at the brazenness of the mayor's lie," Singer told Patch.

"I know that politicians are not known for their strict adherence to the truth, but when someone like the mayor can claim to be frustrated because I have been uncooperative when I have not received a single email or phone call from him or anyone in his office is simply unbelievable."

Singer challenged the mayor's office to produce email and phone logs that the city has reached out to him.

Singer has said that he has no intention of selling the building, which he bought for $3.15 million. He wants to turn the landmarked property into a dorm called University Square, which continues in a holding pattern while the DOB maintains a Stop Work Order on the building.

In years past several local elected officials, community activists and residents have asked for the return of the building at 605 E. Ninth St. Avenue B and Avenue C for community use. The building became a community center after the school left in 1977. The group was evicted when Singer took over as the landlord.

Previously on Ev Grieve:
The Times explores the past, present and future of the former P.S. 64

Openings: Pizza Rollio on 9th Street; Afandi Grill on 1st Avenue

[Photo by Steven]

Pizza Rollio has opened their outpost at 437 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The pizzeria, which sells its super-thin, arugula-topped pies served in long strips, is owned by Miyuki Talwar and her family, who run similar establishments in the Philippines.

This will be the third Pizza Rollio in the city, joining the Plaza Hotel Food Hall and on West 18th Street.

Here's more about their pizza from the Daily News in 2016:

In a city with pizzerias on almost every corner, Pizza Rollio serves the seemingly impossible: a totally unique pie. Its rectangular creations are light and delicate — built on paper-thin sheets of dough that are baked and sliced into wide ribbons perfect for wrapping around peppery bites of alfalfa sprouts and arugula, the salad-y condiment served with every order.

A post shared by Pizza Rollio (@pizzarollio) on Aug 30, 2018 at 2:14pm PDT

-----



Meanwhile, at 149 First Ave. near Ninth Street, Afandi Grill has made its debut. The restaurant offers cuisine from Central Asia. Per the website:

Afandi has Xinjiang style hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, world famous Uzbek pilaf and home made pastries. There is a veggie option for each dishes.

You can find their menu and hours here.

This storefront has been vacant since This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef closed in March 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pizza Rollio bringing its skinny slices to 9th Street

Afandi Grill bringing food from Central Asia to 1st Avenue

A free buffet for voters at 99 Favor Taste on St. Mark's Place

[Photo by Steven]

The owners of 99 Favor Taste at 37 St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue want you to vote.

As the banner above the entryway declares: "You vote, buffet on me!" The deal is good during the primary election on Sept. 13 as well as the general election on Nov. 6.

The restaurant, which offers traditional Korean-style barbecue and Chinese hot pot meals at multiple NYC locations, opened here in July 2017.

Aside from a free meal for voting, 99 Favor Taste also comps your meal on your birthday.

Time for the new clock faces at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

[Photo by EVG reader George Towne]

The steeplejacks are working today at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, where a new (or refurbished?) clock is being installed...

EVG Steeplejack Correspondent Steven shared these photos of the workers installing the clock faces...















Workers removed the clock back on June 29 at the landmarked church on 10th Street and Second Avenue.

And the folks at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation shared this photo...



EVG reader Brian Philip Katz sent these pics...





The clocks had been stuck at 6:20 for some time.

Tuesdays at Sophie's redux

[Montage via Kyle de Vre]

Last Tuesday I wrote about a new photo book by Kyle de Vre, an East Village resident who has worked at Sophie's for the past four-and-a-half years.

The book, "See You Next Tuesday," features portraits of patrons seated in the bar. The launch is tonight at 9 at Sophie's, 507 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. Read my interview with Kyle here.

Sadly, Freddy Corea, pictured in middle of the top row, died back in July. He was a longtime regular at the bar and a familiar presence in the neighborhood. I never did hear anything further about his passing. In recent years he had been splitting time between his East Village apartment and his family's place in Puerto Rico.