The Tompkins Square Library hosts the 2nd annual East Village Arts Festival starting Saturday

The Tompkins Square Library branch is hosting its second annual East Village Arts Festival starting on Saturday.

Here are a few details via the EVG inbox...

We will have 36 public programs for all ages, including performances, lectures, workshops, author readings, and films, as well as tables from local organizations, and art installations by 15 local artists and groups.

In addition, we are also working with local galleries and organizations on our first ever Gallery Walk. Stop by the library to pick up a Gallery Walk flyer, which you can have stamped at each gallery you visit. Visit at least four of the participating galleries between Dec. 1 and 15, and you can enter a library raffle for some fabulous prizes!

This link has more info about the Gallery Walk. This link has all the different programs each day through Dec. 15.

The branch is located at 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

202 Avenue A has been gutted on its way to doubling in size to become the Topanga

[Photo yesterday by Steven]

Work continues at 202 Avenue A, the four-story building on the east side between 12th Street and 13th Street.

The custom stereo shop Bright Audio had been in this storefront for five years, before relocating across the Avenue last December.

I heard that the space was being renovated. Well, that's an understatement, as this interior photo via Steven shows... oh!



As you can see, there's a lot more going on than a simple storefront conversion.

According to the approved work permits on file with the city, there's a horizontal and vertical enlargement of the existing structure. The current total square footage is 5,334; the additions will bring the total to 10,920. The work permits show that the new retail space will be roughly 2,000 square feet.

There will be 10 residences here, including a duplex penthouse with a private terrace, per the work permits.

Here's a look at the rendering of the all-new 202 — called the Topanga — via Lenart Architecture ...



Highpoint Property Group bought No. 202 in a deal that closed last December for $6.75 million, according to public records.

View this post on Instagram

We're excited to share renderings of a recent LA project - the Topanga. Catch a glimpse of this upcoming mixed-use building in New York's East Village. __________ 📷: Highpoint Property Group __________ #lenartarchitecture #highpointpropertygroup #hpg #topanga #nineties #eastvillage #newyorkplaces #development #realestatedevelopment #renderings #3drenderings #nyapartments #mixeduse #mixedusedevelopment #nyc_instagram #architecture #arquitectura #archdaily #architectwatch #architecturewatch #architecturephotography #nyneighborhoods #dailyinspo #architecture_view #nyarchitecture

A post shared by Lenart Architecture (@lenartarchitecture) on Oct 24, 2018 at 12:04pm PDT

Last call at the Continental now set for Dec. 15

The Continental, the last of the businesses on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place, is now set to close on Dec. 15.

The 27-year-old bar had received several extensions in the past year at 23 Third Ave., first in July then October. Trigger, the bar's owner, had most recently hoped to stay open until May 2019.

However, he told me that business has been slow.

"I think that most people think we’ve already closed," he said via a Facebook message. "It’s just my emotions and sentimental attachment that’s been keep me from leaving. All my neighbors have left. It’s time!"

Now, though, as Page Six reports, the date is Dec. 15, with the closing night hosted by Jessie Malin.

A boutique office building with ground-floor retail is looming for the corner. Real Estate Equities Corporation picked up the 99-year leasehold for the properties here for nearly $150 million in November 2017. The corner assemblage is owned by the Gabay family.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Shake Shack effect? McDonald's on 3rd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has closed after 20 years

Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site

Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building

Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

End is nearing for the businesses on the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

The Continental gets a 3-month reprieve

New building plans revealed for 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Your chance to talk up at the the Office of Nightlife listening tour

Tomorrow evening, the Office of Nightlife (night mayor!) is hosting the fifth stop — the Manhattan leg — of a five-borough listening tour "to hear comments, concerns, and ideas for strengthening New York’s distinctive nightlife."

It takes place at the Town Hall on West 43rd Street from 5:30 to 8 p.m. (RSVP at this link.)

Here's more from a press advisory via the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment yesterday morning:

Established earlier this year within the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the Office of Nightlife serves as a central point of contact between City agencies, nightlife business owners, residents, employees, and patrons, promoting a safe and vibrant nightlife scene beneficial to businesses and communities across the five boroughs.

Led by the Office of Nightlife’s senior executive director Ariel Palitz, this listening session is designed to inform the Office of Nightlife as it pursues policy recommendations and long-term solutions to ensure the vitality of New York’s nightlife. The Office of Nightlife welcomes all New Yorkers to share feedback on topics such as quality of life, safety, regulations, enforcement, and the role nightlife plays in fostering creativity and social cohesion.

Aside from Palitz, attendees will include Julie Menin, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President, and other local elected officials.

Neighborhoods United, a coalition of citywide block associations, is helping spread the word about the session. Nora Breen, a rep for the group, says that to date, there hasn't been adequate advance notice about the listening sessions, especially within Community Board 3, where there are multiple quality-of-life issues related to nightlife and liquor-license saturation. (CB3's district manager, Susan Stetzer, is also one of the 14 members of NYC's first-ever Nightlife Advisory Board, appointed back in July by the mayor.)

"The Nightlife Mayor's Listening Tours in Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn have been poorly publicized and stocked with nightlife industry insiders," Breen said. "So far, the voices overwhelmingly weighing in are from developers, bar/hotel/club operators, lobbyists, liquor lawyers and nightlife insiders."

In its coverage of the Brooklyn stop last month, Bedford & Bowery reported that Palitz was "truly surprised" how few "residents" came out to speak.

And leading up to tomorrow night's event, Neighborhoods United distributed these flyers...





The Town Hall is at 123 W. 43rd St. between Sixth Avenue and Broadway.

Previously

Monday's parting shot

Someone added a "Vote Trump 2020" to the "This Town Reeks of Kale" message that arrived earlier this month in the payphone on Avenue A near Third Street...

A tenant town hall this Wednesday night on the future of rent regulation in NYC

Via the EVG inbox...

Please join New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and State Senator Brad Hoylman for a discussion on the future of rent regulation in New York City, featuring Delsenia Glover of Tenants and Neighbors, Sheila Garcia of CASA and Aaron Carr of Housing Rights Initiative.

Our speakers will discuss how loopholes and fraud contribute to the ongoing weakening of New York’s rent regulation laws, and how communities across New York City can advocate to repeal Vacancy Decontrol, the Preferential Rent, and the 20 percent Vacancy Bonus in the State Legislature.

The deck is stacked against tenants, and it’s time to fight back!

When: Nov. 28, 2018
6 p.m. — Doors Open
6:30 p.m. — Event begins

Where: Celeste Auditorium
New York Public Library
476 Fifth Avenue

Find more info on the Facebook Events page.

Thanksgiving-weekend fire temporarily shutters Bruno Pizza on 13th Street

[Reader-submitted photo]

Early Friday morning, a fire broke out in the top-floor apartment at 204 E. 13th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The extent of the damage to the four-story building isn't known... several of the north-facing windows are boarded up...



The restaurant on the ground-floor level, Bruno Pizza, will be closed for the foreseeable future.

"There is extensive water damage in the restaurant," owner Demian Repucci told me via email. "But the biggest thing is that ConEd shut off the electricity, gas and water to the whole building.

"We're trying to figure out the situation and what it will take to get back up and running."

Bruno Pizza opened in July 2015.

According to Streeteasy, the building, owned by Steve Croman, has three residential units. The top- floor apartment includes four bedrooms, and last rented for $6,750, per the Streeteasy listings.

A sign on the building's front door notes that tenants are not to enter... there isn't any official vacate order posted from the city just yet...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Report of a fire at 204 E. 13th St.

There's improved pedestrian access for businesses along the L-train construction corridor

[EVG photo from September]

There is improved pedestrian access now on the south side of 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, the main construction zone leading up to, and during, the L-train rehab.

As the above photo from September shows, access to the five businesses west of Avenue A was limited to two feet-plus of unappealing sidewalk space that came to a dead end outside the Domino's Pizza outpost.

Meanwhile, most of the pedestrian traffic was diverted to the temporary sidewalk passage set up between the active construction site for creating entrances and exits for the L train at Avenue A and the two lanes of 14th Street.


[EVG photo from June]

The past week, however, the sidewalk situation was reconfigured on the south side of 14th Street... where pedestrians can now walk along the storefronts and away from traffic...



The sidewalk is now a little wider ...



... and you can still walk on it to First Avenue and beyond...





A positive step, though it may be too late — five businesses have already closed between Avenue A and First Avenue... while other retailers and restaurants report a decrease in revenue.

Per an article from The Villager on Nov. 15:

The employees at the Red Apple Barbershop, west of the string of shuttered shops, fear the 10-year-old shop could be next.

“Most of the foot traffic is on the road,” said Michael Vostok, the shop’s manager. The street pattern for construction sends passersby into a pathway in the streets and makes it difficult for Stuyvesant Town residents — critical clientele for the retailers — to both see and reach the shop.

The work here on this part of 14th Street started in July 2017 ahead of the L-train closure between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue that starts on April 27, 2019.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction

Renderings reveal the MTA's plans for the Avenue A L station; why does everyone look so happy?

A look at the new L-train renderings along 14th Street

Cocoa Grinder softly opens on 1st Street

Cocoa Grinder, a cafe chainlet with multiple locations in Brooklyn, is now in soft-open mode here at 45 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.


[Photo by Vinny & O]

A reader says that they offering pastries and coffee for now. Eventually they'll feature a menu of all-day breakfast, burgers, protein shakes, and freshly squeezed juices. Prices range from $4 for a to-go egg-and-cheese wrap to $12 for the "Poachy Poach," an ensemble of poached eggs and gravlax salmon on an English muffin with a side of tater tots and greens.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cocoa Grinder bringing coffee and all-day breakfast to 1st Street

Relish this?: Amazon revives Carnergie Deli for a week to promote 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'

You may have seen these ads posted on empty spaces along St. Mark's Place (and elsewhere) ...



The Amazon series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," set in 1958 NYC, is launching its new season by "creating an immersive Carnegie Deli pop-up experience" at 201 Lafayette St. at Kenmare.


[Via HomeoftheMaisel]

According to the pop-up's website, "while it may be 2018 on the outside, it’s 1958 on the inside — the decor, the jukebox, the photobooth, and even the menu."

This version of the Carnegie Deli, open from Saturday through Dec. 8, will sell "The Maisel," marble rye with pastrami, salami, coleslaw and "special sauce," for 99 cents. Other menu items include a mini-knish for 75 cents as well as a black and white cookie, cheesecake slice, pickles, Dr. Brown’s Soda, iced tea and coffee — each going for 50 cents.

All proceeds will go to the Lower Eastside Girls Club on Avenue D.

View this post on Instagram

@carnegiedeli along with @amazonprimevideo and @maiseltv are celebrating the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel by creating an immersive Carnegie Deli pop-up experience. From 12/1 to 12/8, guests can travel back in time to 1958, with everything from décor, to pricing, to the menu. For more info and reservations, check out the link in our bio! PC: @charlie.shoots • • • #themarvelousmrsmaisel #themarvelousmrsmaiselseason2 #maiseltv #carnegiedeli #popup #nycpopup #deli #marvelous #pastrami #thesusie #themaisel #eeeeeats #nyceeeeeats #amazonprimevideo #amazon #mrsmaisel #homeofthemaisel

A post shared by Carnegie Deli (@carnegiedeli) on Nov 20, 2018 at 5:31pm PST

The Carnegie Deli closed its Seventh Avenue outpost on New Year’s Eve in 2016 after 79 years in business. (The Las Vegas location is still in operation.)

As Eater noted at the time, there were numerous setbacks and scandals over the last few years at the deli, "including a wage lawsuit filed by staffers, and the messy divorce of its owner and her husband, who was cheating with a waitress while allegedly helping her open a rogue location of the deli in Thailand."

The number of Jewish delis in NYC has greatly diminished in recent years. According to an article published at Haaretz published in January, there were some 1,500 of them in the city in the 1930s; now there are about 20. Perhaps Amazon can recreate other vanishing elements of NYC.

Construction watch: 688 Broadway, aka 1 Great Jones Alley

Nearly two years have passed since our last look at the 12-floor condoplex that arrived at the site of the former open-air shops on Broadway near Fourth Street ...



The 16-unit project is known as 1 Great Jones Alley, whose website promises "a private paradise." Here's some more about the the residences via the 1 Great Jones website....

On the very street where Andy Warhol once lived and other artists like Basquiat and Haring exchanged ideas with musicians and writers, a new legacy is born.

According to Streeteasy, all the residences have either been sold or are in contract, including the $20-million duplex penthouse.

Meanwhile, we're not sure what became of the the $10-million lawsuit over the 137-foot alley behind the buildings. In March 2017, the co-op board of 684 Broadway, the building at the corner of Great Jones with multi-million-dollar condos, sued the developers of 1 Great Jones Alley.

As the Post reported on March 4, 2017:

The developer is “not authorized to remove and/or alter the gate that sits at the entrance to the alley … [and] do not have the right to advertise the alley as ‘private’ to potential buyers,” according to court papers.

The developer of 1 Great Jones Alley cannot even allow cars to sit and idle in the space — without the consent of 684 Broadway, the suit contends.

The co-op wants the condo’s misleading ads to end, and are asking a judge to order 1 Great Jones Alley to tell their residents no cars, or changes, will be permitted.

“The board believes that part of the alley and gate belongs to 684 Broadway, and felt that they had to file this lawsuit to protect their property rights,” said 684 Broadway in a statement via its lawyer, Robert Brown.

The 1 Great Jones website notes: "A secret alley. A private paradise. An exclusive residence." A car is still visible in the rendering...



And here's how paradise the alley looked the other day...



In May 2017, three construction workers were reportedly injured, one seriously, after a steel beam fell 12 stories at No. 688.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Retail plans revealed for 12-floor condo building replacing open-air market on Broadway

NoHo flea market gutted ahead of new condo project on Broadway

Looking at One Great Jones Alley, 'a private paradise'

At the former home of the Broadway flea market, condos will cost upwards of $22 million

Report: There's a $10-million lawsuit over use of Great Jones Alley for new development

Thanksgiving weekend's parting shot

Time for the guests to leave ("Chewie Get Us Out of Here") ... photo on Avenue C in Stuy Town the other day via EVG reader Doug...