Sunday outside the former Sidewalk

Here's a look today at part of the former Sidewalk space on Avenue A at Sixth Street.

Interior work continues for a new bar-restaurant, as we've been reporting.

The Sidewalk, with a long-standing open-mic night, closed in February after 32-plus years in business. The owner was ready to retire and move on.

A live music element was expected to continue when the next place opens, but most details haven't been made public. Laura Saniuk-Heinig, one of the restaurant space's new co-owners, did not respond to our previous email seeking more information about the new venture.

Meanwhile, as the top photo shows, the corner space continues to attract a variety of tags and wheatpaste art ... including one of Sally Long Dog...

View this post on Instagram

A new Sally and Harry mural by @earlyrisernyc is up! Check it out, just don’t pee on it! #myblock #calledit #peerightsreserved Location: 6th Street and Avenue A

A post shared by Sally Long Dog 🐾 (@sallylongdog) on Aug 25, 2019 at 2:01pm PDT

Updated 9/2

Some company for Sally Long Dog (via @earlyrisernyc) ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The building housing the former Sidewalk sells on Avenue A

New owners set to take over the 33-year-old Sidewalk Bar & Restaurant on Avenue A

1-floor expansion planned for Avenue A building that housed the Sidewalk

Saturday's parting shot

Moving day on St. Mark's Place... photo by Vinny & O

6 posts from August

[A hug for the Hare Krishna tree via Steven]

A mini month in review...

Welcoming baby Luna (Aug. 29)

I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant (Aug. 14)

Car making U-turn strikes woman on Avenue B sidewalk (Aug. 12)

Time capsules: The Gap of St. Mark's Place (Aug. 8)

The Sunshine is gone, and an empty lot awaits a 9-story office building (Aug. 7)

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black in Tompkins Square Park (Aug. 5)

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.

Today in Tompkins Square Park: the New Village Music Festival

The ninth annual New Village Music Festival (aka NVMF) takes place today (Aug. 31!) in Tompkins Square Park from 2-6 p.m.

The event, billed as "New York’s hottest multicultural fusion concert," presents a variety of musicians and artists spanning several genres. Find more details on the free show at the Facebook Events page.

Updated noon



Steven shares these photos... showing workers setting up for the event...

Street scenes

Good morning from 10th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. Looks like a good spot (X).

The Weird! revolution continues tomorrow night at Otto's Shrunken Head

The next monthly edition of Get Weird!, the rock-and-roll party at Otto's Shrunken Head, is tomorrow (Saturday night).

The free show includes the garage-psych of the Abyssmals and the surf-roxotica the Black Widows.

Otto's is at at 538 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Orquesta Manoeuvres

A summer send-off with "Unpretentious Beauty" by the Japanese-based Clive Tanaka y su Orquesta.

The "Orquesta" has a new record out now called Pre​-​Sunrise Authority.

A climb up into the Hare Krishna tree

A tree crew showed up today in the center of Tompkins Square Park ... with the Hare Krishna tree the focus of their attention. (There were admittedly a few anxious moments while people wondered what they might be doing. You never know what the city has planned.)

However, the workers said they were there to test equipment... with one worker showing the other some tree-climbing tips, per EVG correspondent Steven ...











Thanks to Steven for the photos.

EVG summer storylines

[RIP East River Park via Dave on 7th]

Three stories that we've been following this summer and late spring...

The pending closure of East River Park

• Last week to comment on the city's plans to close East River Park (Aug. 27)

• An annual reunion in East River Park (Aug. 4)

• City Planning Commission will hold its hearing on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project tomorrow (July 30)

• Next steps in the plan to rebuild East River Park (July 19)

• This week's public meeting about stormproofing East River Park (July 16)

• A visit to East River Park (July 10)

• Here are the next meetings for you to learn more about stormproofing plans for East River Park (June 3)

The plan to put synthetic turf at Tompkins Square Park

• No winners yet in Tompkins Square Park synthetic turf battle (Aug. 27)

• Petition to 'Save Tompkins Square asphalt!' closing in on 19,000 signatures (July 8)

• Skateboarders upset over plan to add synthetic turf to the northwest corner of Tompkins Square Park (July 2)

The ongoing challenges at Gem Spa

• Get your Gem Spa t-shirts or photos of Madonna — at Gem Spa! (Aug. 16)

• A July 4 moment at Gem Spa (July 4)

• Will you buy a Gem Spa T-shirt? (June 28)

• The Gem Spa Zoltar is alive and well and telling fortunes an L-train ride away in Bushwick (June 19)

• "Gem Spa is open!" (June 18)

• What is happening at Gem Spa? (June 11)

A visit to Gem Spa (May 10)

A Labor Day weekend book sale at Mast

Happening at Mast Books, Avenue A at Fifth Street, all Labor Day Weekend long...

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BOOK SALE! All weekend long. Hundreds of books, most in the $5 to $10 range! Starts this afternoon at 2pm through Labor Day.

A post shared by Mast Books (@mastbooks) on Aug 30, 2019 at 8:36am PDT

Another driver wedges car on the bike lane adjacent to the FDR

[Screengrab via PIX11]

Police are searching for the BMW driver who cruised along the bike-jogging path adjacent to the FDR, abandoning the vehicle after it became wedged between the highway's retaining wall and Con Ed at 15th Street early this morning.

Per PIX11:

Police said the driver of the car fled the scene and was nowhere to be found.

Authorities do not know where the car entered the sectioned-off path or how it got stuck there.

WATCH: Tow truck lifts car out of bike path where it had been previously wedged on the N/B side of the FDR Drive near 14th street. No reports on injuries. HEAVY delays beyond Brooklyn Bridge @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/qs2QuWZUfn

— MARISSA TORRES PIX11 (@MarissaTorresTV) August 29, 2019

In July 2018, a woman driving a Porsche Cayenne managed the same feat...

@NY1 @patkiernan How did the driver even manage this? Blocked the fdr path this morning. #Bailedthrough thesunroof @Porsche pic.twitter.com/wBLY4yLhsx

— michael feldstein (@majy10016) July 27, 2018

Thankfully no one was injured in either reckless driving incident.