Spring scenes from Tompkins Square Park

A photogenic spring day in Tompkins Square Park this Tuesday. The top photo comes from riachung00.

... and Allen Semanco shared this shot of honeysuckles...



Also!

Steven spotted a worker dropping dry ice into the rat holes ...







Stylish Rat Ice logo TBH.

Also, as previously noted (likely in middle school science class), dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. As it melts, it turns into carbon dioxide gas, which fills the burrows, suffocating any rats inside. Using dry ice reduces the risk to other animals and children that poison can pose, per an article that I cut and paste this from.

Time for the 24th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts at Theater for the New City

The Theater for the New City is presenting its 24th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, the performance marathon in and around its space at 155 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street starting Friday at 6 p.m. ... and happening through Sunday.

Find the full rundown of performers and artists and times here.

Meanwhile, the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts Exhibit continues... and the opening reception is tomorrow (Wednesday) night from 5:30 to 8.



The multidisciplinary art exhibit features painting, sculpture, photography, collage and mixed media... and it will be up at the Theater for the New City through June 30.

A Stop the Ban rally at Middle Collegiate Church

In response to the spate of anti-abortion legislation in several states, more than 50 organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and NARAL Pro-Choice America, are participating in #StopTheBans protests nationwide today.

The Middle Collegiate Church is hosting a rally at noon on its front steps, 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. Find more information at the Facebook event page.

The main NYC event takes place at Foley Square starting at 5:30 p.m. Details here.

Behold these murals uncovered behind the bar at the former Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place

[EVG photo from last week]

Workers continue to gut the subterranean space at 20 St. Mark's Place where the Grassroots Tavern was for 42 years (1975-2017).

And late last week, EVG contributor Derek Berg got a look inside at the murals that were discovered on the wall when workers ripped out the bar ...









We don't know how old these are. As we recall, the Grassroots space was previously a Greek restaurant. (If any pre-1975 historians or former GR employees want to chime in about these murals.)

The address, known as the Daniel LeRoy House, was built in 1832. (It received landmark status in 1971, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.)

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Updated 10 a.m.

Thanks to Gar for this link to Daytonian in Manhattan with a post on the history of the building:

By 1931 the house was home to the Hungarian Cafe and Restaurant. An incident there on July 1 reflected the gangster-driven atmosphere of the East Village in the Depression Era.

Abe Rothbard was playing cards in the cafe that night. Police later noted he had a criminal record. Patrons noticed an unknown man open the door and motion for Rothbard to go outside. When he reached the door, the man beckoned him to step further out on the sidewalk.

The Times reported "He followed him to the stoop and then four shots were fired by a third man from the sidewalk. Rothbard fell, seriously wounded." The mysterious attackers escaped.

At the beginning of the Depression, Urbain Ledoux had opened The Tub, a homeless shelter, in the old Schuetzen Hall down the block at No. 12 St. Mark's Place. Ledoux, known to the men he helped as “Mr. Zero,” accommodated 135 homeless men on cots and steamer chairs. He advertised “auctions” of the men’s services in order to find them temporary work. On New Year’s Day 1929, over two thousand homeless men ate dinner there. The line outside was unbroken from early morning through the afternoon.

The year following the hit on Abe Rothbard, Ledoux took over the Hungarian Cafe. On January 3, 1932 The Times reported "Urbain Ledoux, who prefers to be called 'Mr. Zero,' announced yesterday that he would open a week from today a temperance saloon to be known a the 'Growler' at 20 St. Mark's Place. He intends to sell in it near-beer for 3 cents a glass; baked beans, soup, pudding, bread, pies and cake at 1 cent an order." Down-and-out men could "take their ease and play dominoes, checkers or cards, or read the newspapers."

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Also late last week, EVG reader and GR regular Eskapee took possession of part of the former Grassroots sign (a worker was putting it out for the taking).



Meanwhile, as we noted last week, the space has been on the retail market. This apparently brought an end to the nearly 18 months Bob Precious had spent trying to open a bar-pub here.

In an email on Friday, Precious provided a recap about what happened to his venture, tentatively called Subterranean:

Essentially, the landlord was not able to deliver the space to us. We waited almost a year and a half from the time we signed our lease for them to complete their work and, as of April 1 of this year, they were not able to commit to a date when their work would be done.

It could easily have been a two-year total wait — an impossible situation for a small company to be in. We had fixed costs — salaries for two employees hired specifically to spearhead that project, and had paid professional fees — designer, legal, structural engineer and HVAC, and could not rationalize staying in any longer. A sad situation for us because we believed in the bar and the location.

There are several unsubstantiated rumors making the rounds about the building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, including that a new tenant has been signed for the old Grassroots space — for an unspecified Asian-style eatery.

What is known, however, is that the place needs a lot of work. Steven took these photos yesterday... showing the old GR bar sink going off to parts unknown...



... and a look inside ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
New owner lined up for the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place

20 St. Mark's Place, home of the Grassroots Tavern, has been sold

Last call at the Grassroots Tavern

Parents, students ride together in bid for 2-way protected bike lane on Avenue B

[Photo via @pekochel]

Members of the East Village biking community along with street safety advocates came together yesterday morning to make their case for a protected two-way bike lane on Avenue B.

Big turnout this AM as cyclists, adults and kids alike, call for a protected bike lane on Ave B. #BikeAveB #BikeNYC pic.twitter.com/KyvU2cHzOH

— Bike Commuter NYC (@driversofnyc) May 20, 2019

As the #BikeAveB petition notes:

Despite being a narrow avenue, Avenue B allows two-way travel for cars, but has no dedicated lanes for anybody who wants to ride a bicycle. Yet parents and neighbors alike are already choosing to ride down this unsafe corridor.

To make the problem worse, trucks and commercial vehicles have no curbside loading zones. Every day we see them double-parking in order to make deliveries to the dozens of small businesses along Avenue B.

We need a safe, two-way protected bike lane on Avenue B, complete with pedestrian safety improvements!

[Photo from yesterday]

On June 19, East Village parent Choresh Wald, who helped launch the initiative, will make the case for the bike lanes before Community Board 3's Transportation, Public Safety, & Environment Committee. The meeting starts at 6:30 at the University Settlement, Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making the case for 2-way bike lanes on Avenue B

Looks like a Flamingos Vintage Pound is coming to 1st Avenue

Renovation work is going on inside the papered-up windows at 143 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.

EVG correspondent Steven notes that signs are now up inside the windows for Flamingos Vintage Pound...



This will be the latest location for FVP, which as the name implies, sells vintage clothing by the pound. An outpost opened on Stanton Street last summer. The company, now in its 10th year of business, has multiple stores in Europe, as well as in Los Angeles, Houston and Miami.

Anyway, not really what we expected for the space that has been empty for nearly 18 months. It seemed destined to be an e smoke shop.

Until December 2017, this space was home to the bar-restaurant portion of Paquito’s. The quick-serve Mexican restaurant still operates a newly remodeled outpost next door.

Experiential CBD shop opens on 11th Street

Come Back Daily debuted this past Friday over at 516 E. 11th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

EVG regular Gojira shared these photos of the shop that sells a range of products derived from CBD.



Come Back Daily, which also has outposts in Harlem and Tribeca, offers an educational component as well. Per their website:

Come Back Daily was created to solve the issue of misinformation surrounding the Cannabis plant. The community needs a specially curated place that is safe to learn and experience the benefits of CBD, can do for them.

Founder and cannabis expert Steve Phan worked for a CBD company where he noticed a need for peer to peer interaction. While operating the company’s live chat, even after extensive explanations and links to the product for them to purchase, individuals still wanted to come in and see/talk to someone physically.

And there are products...









Come Back Daily is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

This space on 11th Street was previously the 10 Thousand Steps Bookstore, the Hungarian speciality shop/gallery that is in the process of relocating.

Empty Avenue B storefront yields psychic adviser

You likely had a feeling that a psychic adviser has set up shop at 228 Avenue B — right next to Mona's between 13th Street and 14th Street.

The storefront had been empty for a few years after the 567 Framing Shop moved out.

So, yeah.

Monday's parting shot

A tree grows on Avenue B (7th and B, specifically). Thanks to EVG regular Greg Masters for the photo!

Happy 1-month anniversary, red-tailed hawklets of Tompkins Square Park

Steven shares this photo today of red-tailed hawk Amelia feeding her two young ones in Tompkins Square Park.

It's not immediately clear what is on the menu — something to please tiny tummies, obviously. (Simple battered rat with apple sweet potato and cinnamon? Freshly mauled pigeon with fruit and yogurt peaches? The possibilities!)

As Goggla noted, the first hatch started or occurred on April 20. (It's possible hatching could have started earlier, per Googla, thus ruining our 1-month anniversary sentiments.)

H Mart will open very, very soon on 3rd Avenue

[Photo Saturday by Steven]

The H Mart is looking very close to opening here in the retail space of NYU's Alumni Hall on Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

How close?

An H Mart manager told EVG correspondent Steven that they could open as soon as today, though more likely a little later this week. Updated: It's now June 3.





We first spotted the branding for the Asian-American supermarket here last August. This will be the third H Mart in Manhattan (the others are on West 32nd Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side). Overall, H Mart, based in Lyndhurst, N.J., has more than 70 outposts in the United States and Canada.

Workers combined four retail spaces on this block to fit this H Mart — the former Birdbath and Citi Habitats office (both of those businesses left in the summer of 2014 ... as well as a Subway (sandwich shop) and Saint's Alp Teahouse.

The former Thaimee Table space is for rent

A for-rent sign arrived late last week at Thaimee Table, the now-closed Thai restaurant at 99 Third Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.

As we reported on May 10, the Marshal had taken legal possession of the space. However, Chef Hong Thaimee's business partner, Matt Bruck, said in an email that they planned to reopen this past week.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The space has been emptied out. There isn't any mention of a closure on the Thaimee social media properties. The restaurant's website is now offline. Bruck did not respond to an email about the closure.

Chef Thaimee, who previously worked in the kitchens at Jean-Georges’ Spice Market and Perry Street restaurants, opened Ngam in 2012 (The Village Voice named Ngam NYC's No. 1 Thai restaurant in 2013) ... the restaurant was later renamed Thaimee Table.

The Marshal's notice remains on the front window of Thaimee Box, the quick-serve option around the corner on 13th Street near Second Avenue. That space hasn't been open in months, according to a reader who lives nearby.



Meanwhile, Chef Thaimee's third establishment, Thaimee Magic, remains in service in the Urbanspace 570 space on Lexington Avenue.

As for 99 Third Ave., the asking rent for the storefront is $18,995, per the listing.

No Dollface for the former Bar Virage space on 2nd Avenue

Dollface, Ravi DeRossi's vegan-diner concept, will have to find a home elsewhere.

A for-rent sign now hangs at the former Bar Virage on Second Avenue at Seventh Street.

Back in February, DeRossi appeared before Community Board 3 for a full liquor license for the space. However, CB3 issued a denial, citing among other reasons, its proximity to Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

But didn't Bar Virage have a full liquor license? Yes. Per the CB3 minutes from February:

Community Board 3 does not know whether a determination was made by the SLA about this house of worship when the previous applicant was considered for a full on-premises liquor license but believes that a full on-premises liquor should not now be approved within the proximity of this location to a longstanding house of worship in this community...

The minutes note, too, that "this applicant has also failed to submit any indication of its outreach to the community or support by the community for this application through petition signatures or other means."

In an email on Saturday, DeRossi confirmed that he will be looking for another spot for Dollface in the East Village.

Bar Virage closed in late December after 20-plus years in business. No reason was cited for the closure.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ravi DeRossi plans vegan diner in former Bar Virage space

Call me by your...: Gallery-cafe combo By Name opening on the Bowery

By Name, an "art-inspired cafe concept," is coming soon at 324 Bowery near Bleecker Street.

The space will sell a variety of fruit-milk teas and bento boxes...



The By Name Instagram account states that their goal is to "create a contemporary art community for emerging artists to gain more exposure."





This space was once Agozar!, the Cuban bistro-bar that closed in November 2017. The other part of the former Agozar! is now Codex, which sells used and new books with a focus on literary fiction and art.

Sugar Sketch has closed on 2nd Street

Sugar Sketch, the bakery-cake shop on Second Street, has closed. A for-rent sign now hangs on the storefront between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Thank you to Salim for the photo!)

There's no mention of a closure on the Sugar Sketch website or social media properties.

Last spring, owner-baker Martina Nardo closed the space to retail business (though walk-ins with small orders were welcome), focusing on her catering operation instead.

The small bakery opened here in the fall of 2016. You can read our Q&A with Nardo here.

The Blind Pig wraps up 13 years on 14th Street

The Blind Pig, the sports bar/pub (home to Arsenal supporters in the English Premier League), closed after service Saturday night at 233 E. 14th St.

As previously reported, the owners of the 13-year-old Blind Pig were hit with an untenable rent increase.

There's a Loopnet listing for the space between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. The asking rent is $300,000 annually — $25k per month.

The closing festivities Saturday night included a set by the house band "previously called A Buncha Guys, now called: F*ck the L*ndl*rd," per the Facebook invite.

Public records list the landlord as the Berliza Corp.


[Image via Facebook]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Blind Pig is closing on 14th Street following 50% rent hike

The Alley signage arrives on Cooper Square; more bubble tea on the way

Signage is up at 68 Cooper Square (across from Cooper Union) for The Alley, marking the first NYC location for the growing Taiwanese bubble tea chain.

Cutting and pasting this next section via Eater, who first reported on the Alley's June arrival:

With the aid of social media, Alley’s Instagrammable sweet drinks and decor have attracted fervent milk tea lovers to line up for hours for a sip of tea whenever a new store opens. Chinese people coin tea shops like the Alley as the “internet celebrity tea,” meaning the tea goes viral overnight on social media, like internet celebrities.

In the upcoming New York Alley, customers can pick a drink from a menu of two dozens teas that range from bubble tea to fruit tea. “Brown sugar deerioca” — the brand’s logo is a deer head — is a signature milk-based sweet drink with no tea in it. Alley’s other popular drinks are made of fresh milk and local black or green tea. The tapioca pearls, or what the Alley calls deerioca, are made by the restaurant.

The Alley abandons artificial syrup, instead using a syrup it makes from Taiwanese brown cane sugar. All the ingredients, save for fresh fruits, will be imported from Taiwan.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Alley Tea (@thealley.usa) on May 17, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

Sunday's parting shot

A moment at the Ukrainian Festival festival today on Seventh Street... photo by Derek Berg

Week in Grieview

[1st Avenue looking south toward 11th Street via Vinny & O]

Report: Ex admits to murdering Elizabeth Lee on Cooper Square (Friday)

Trader Joe's finally confirms that a Trader Joe's is opening on 14th Street at Avenue A (Wednesday)

A visit to Sei Shin Dojo on Avenue A (Friday)

Keeping up with the Joneses: Gabriel Stulman confirms plans for former Great Jones Cafe (Wednesday)

Update on the affordable housing planned for 204 Avenue A and 535 E. 12th St. (Wednesday)

The all-new Essex Market debuts in its new Essex Crossing home (Tuesday)

Prepping the former P.C. Richard & Son for demolition on 14th Street (Friday)

'The First Time I Saw The Ramones' at 72 Gallery (Tuesday)

The former Grassroots Tavern space on St. Mark's Place is on the market (Thursday)

2020 vision: New completion set for Rite Aid-adjacent condoplex on 1st Avenue (Tuesday)

54-56 3rd Ave. is for sale, and there are air rights (Wednesday)

Emergency generator work underway at the Riis Houses on Avenue D (Wednesday)

Concern over new GreenThumb regulations for community gardens (Friday)

Nexus of the Juiciverse: Juicy Lucy's kiosk at 1st and 1st returns to action (Tuesday)

Meet Noodles debuts on 3rd Avenue (Thursday)

This week's NY See strip! (Monday)

A look at 119-121 2nd Ave. post sidewalk-bridge collapse (Monday)

Report: Microsoft signs lease for gas-station replacing office building on Lafayette and Houston (Thursday)

Ravi DeRossi's Fire & Water is closed for now on 7th Street (Monday)

Headless Widow signage arrives on 1st Avenue (Friday)

Jackdaw, coming soon to the former Durden space on 2nd Avenue (Monday)

Demolition watch: 238 E. 3rd St. (Tuesday)

Sandwicherie has closed on 4th Avenue and 13th Street; doomed corner status yet? (Monday)

With a new menu, Little Tong dropping the Noodle Shop on 1st Avenue (Thursday)

3 chances to hear about the city's plan to stormproof East River Park — and the East Side (Monday)

Steiner East Village retail watch on Avenue A (Thursday)

Bright Horizons signage arrives at EVGB on 14th Street (Monday)

Portraits from DanceFest in Tompkins Square Park (Saturday)

... and a few photos via Steven from the 13th Annual Dance Parade yesterday along St. Mark's Place...













... and one last reader submission from the DanceFest yesterday in Tompkins Square Park... though he's technically not dancing...



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A ride to raise awareness for a protected two‑way bike lane on Avenue B

Tomorrow morning, a group of neighborhood parents and their children will gather for a bike ride to school... in show of support for a protected two‑way bike lane on Avenue B.

As we first reported on April 15, a movement is underway to secure bike lanes on Avenue B, an increasingly congested 14-block corridor currently without any marked paths for cyclists such as on Avenue A and Avenue C.

The idea came about via parents who bike their children to area schools — including the East Village Community School, the Children's Workshop School, Tompkins Square Middle School, the Earth School and East Side Community High School.

You can read more via a petition at this link.

As for tomorrow (Monday) morning, there are now two start locations — Grand and Clinton and the Stuy Town-14th Street loop just north of Avenue B.

Here's part of the invite:

Will you ride your bike with us on the morning of Monday, May 20 as New Yorkers come together to demand a safe, protected two‑way bike lane on Avenue B?

We invite East Village neighbors on a family-paced group ride of solidarity with parents who are already biking their children to school, just in time for morning drop-off. We’ll end our ride at local bike-friendly business The Roost, at 222 Avenue B, for an optional cup of coffee afterwards.

If you haven’t already, please sign our #BikeAveB online petition for a two‑way protected bike lane and join hundreds of families who are already asking for safer way to bike to school.

[Photo by Sam Bleiberg]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making the case for 2-way bike lanes on Avenue B