Week in Grieview

[Tropical paradise on 2nd Avenue via Derek Berg]

Posts this past week included...

Jury selection starts for defendants in 2nd Avenue gas explosion that killed 2 men (Tuesday)

Parks officials say they will NOT be putting down a synthetic turf in Tompkins Square Park; skateboarders rejoice (Friday)

On Avenue A, Coney Island Baby transforms into Lola; live music to share stage with club nights (Thursday)

Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen is back open for the fall (and winter and spring) (Wednesday)

2nd acts: Sushi counter for the former Amato Opera on the Bowery (Tuesday)

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza vying for former Nicoletta space on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street (Tuesday)

This week's NY See (Friday)


[At the 6 & B Garden via riachung00]

L train work moves to the entrance of the future Trader Joe's on 14th Street (Wednesday)

Report: Stabbing on Avenue A sends police on chase through Tompkins Square Park (Friday)

At Gallery 72, everything that John Holmstrom did with the Ramones (Thursday)

Frisson Espresso has closed on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday)

Reader report: A dog-kicking incident on 10th Street (Wednesday)

A new-look storefront emerges on 7th and B (Friday)

An unsettling find on 5th Street (Tuesday)

Now the Basics Plus on University Place is closing (Tuesday)

Report: Man arrested for attempting to kidnap 5-year-old boy outside Katz's (Monday)

Openings (Night Music) and reopenings (Sauce Restaurant) (Friday)

The return of "yuppie scum" at the former home of the Sunshine Cinema (Thursday)

Pub in the works for longtime corner bar space on Houston and Suffolk (Wednesday)

A warning about sitting on these tree guard railings on 5th Street (Monday)

Whatever happened to the former Heathers space on 13th Street? (Wednesday)

The Alley now in soft-open bubble tea mode on Cooper Square (Tuesday)

...and a photo via Eden from the women's restroom in Tompkins Square Park — "keep out crackheads" ...



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Today's free show in Tompkins Square Park

SOS & Friends are hosting a free concert — a little rock, metal and punk — in Tompkins Square Park this afternoon in the usual place.

The lineup:

2:30 p.m. — Phantom Rocket
3 p.m. — SOS NYC
3:30 p.m. — Drownyard
4 p.m. — Final Siege
4: 30 p.m. — Blueblack
5 p.m. — Violent in Black
5:30 p.m. — Crimshaw

Part 2 is Sept. 14.

Saturday's parting shots

A few scenes from the 49th annual 10th Street Block Party today ... photos by Derek Berg...

A farewell to Unkle Waltie

Friends gathered this afternoon at the International Bar on First Avenue to pay tribute to longtime East Village resident (and iBar regular) Walter Kohl aka Unkle Waltie. He died July 30 at age 69.

Photo by Steven

The 49th annual 10th Street block party is today (on 10th Street)

Happening today (Sept. 9/7) from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 10th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

As always, there will be antiques, collectible and music brought to you by the 10th Street and Stuyvesant Street Block Association. #GoodTimes

H/T Steven

Breaking: Parks officials say they will NOT be putting down a synthetic turf in Tompkins Square Park; skateboarders rejoice

[EVG file photo]

On the eve of a rally to save the Tompkins Square Park multipurpose courts from a future of synthetic turf, Parks officials have announced that they will no longer move forward with their plans.

Organizers behind tomorrow's rally posted the news on Instagram...

View this post on Instagram

WE WON. The city called and announced they are NOT going to install AstroTurf at Tompkins. It’s not a coincidence they made the decision the day before the rally. We organized, made our voices heard, and made a difference. TF IS HERE TO STAY! Big thanks to @quartersnacks @stevernyc @carlinalrivera @supremenewyork @hardbody.nyc Everyone still come out tomorrow! It’s a celebration! Not a protest! I could cry right now 😅✊

A post shared by Adam Zhu (@z.h.u1) on Sep 6, 2019 at 2:55pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Thanks to the Tompkins community who made this happen and @nycparks for listening.

A post shared by Steve Rodriguez (@stevernyc) on Sep 6, 2019 at 2:22pm PDT

As we reported on July 2, the city had plans — apparently only known to residents who may have attended a Community Board committee meeting in May — to cover the courts with synthetic turf, rendering the space useless for skateboarders and street hockey players, among other groups.

The turf project, happening at several area parks, is a result of the city's flood-protection plan that will close East River Park next March for 3.5-plus years. The city needs to find space for the sports teams and youth leagues who use the fields along East River Park.

More than 32,000 people had signed the petition — titled "Save Tompkins Square asphalt!" — since early July.

Instead of a rally tomorrow, the skateboarders are now planning a celebration.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• 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)

Great 'Pains'

The Brooklyn-based Tempers have a new album, titled Private Life, coming out on Oct. 25. The video here is for the first single, "Capital Pains."

A back-to-school BBQ at La Plaza on Saturday

La Plaza Cultural is hosting its annual back-to-school BBQ tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 7) at the community garden on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C.

Aside from the BBQ, there's a book bag/school supplies giveaway as well as other activities for kids.

The event is also in honor Ninth Street resident and fellow gardener Felicia Mahmood, who passed away on April 14. The La Plaza invite notes that Mahmood "pretty much singlehandedly organized, sponsored and ran this event for many years."

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.

Report: Stabbing on Avenue A sends police on chase through Tompkins Square Park

An early morning confrontation on Avenue A near Ninth Street left one man with a stab wound while police chased a gun-toting suspect through Tompkins Square Park.

Patch has details:

About 4:40 a.m., a group of guys was filming a video when a second group of men became angry they were filming, telling the group, "Yo, why you filming us?," an NYPD spokesperson told Patch.

The two groups began fighting, and one person was stabbed in the back, police said. The person was rushed to Mount Sinai Beth Israel for stitches, but had non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

The victim told police that one of the men in the other group had a gun.

Cops chased him through Tompkins Square Park, and the gunman unloaded it and drops it on the ground, police said.

Two men were reportedly arrested. Other details weren't immediately available.

Here's how the incident played out on the Citizen app...

Sip Ahoy: A remembrance for Unkle Waltie at the International

Friends are gathering tomorrow (Sept. 7) at the International Bar to celebrate the life of longtime East Village resident Walter Kohl (aka Unkle Waltie).

Kohl, who had been recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, died on July 30. He was 69.

The iBar is at 102 First Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

For further reading about Unkle Waltie's phrase "Sip ahoy," check out these posts from 2011 via our old friend Marty, who's actually not that old.

Flashback Friday fashions

EVG reader Jason Solarek spotted this on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue yesterday. The piece of box on the street reads: "Fashions from S Klein on the Square."



Not sure how this ended up here — given that the last S. Klein closed 41 years ago. Someone cleaning out a closet... or discarding a department store box collection?

S. Klein is well-known to longtime residents. Here's a thumbnail history via Forgotten New York:

Samuel Klein founded the discount chain S. Klein in 1906, with the flagship store at Union Square East and East 14th Street, and the business eventually grew as large as 19 stores in the metropolitan area before the inevitable decline. The Union Square flagship closed in 1975.

The last of the S. Klein stores closed in 1978.



Today, the Zeckendorf Towers and the Food Emporium occupy the former S. Klein space.

A new-look storefront emerges on 7th and B

Many readers have pointed out the ongoing renovations in the storefront on the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Avenue B.

Jillery, the jewelry and home accessories shop, vacated the corner space in late May 2018.

And the space has been behind plywood in recent months.

There's a for rent sign up on the window...



Not sure what might be next. Perhaps this Flashback Friday quote when Jillery moved in might offer a clue. The president of the board of directors of the co-op here told me this in 2013: "Our co-op is very proud to have rejected chain stores, banks, bars and loud food establishments. We are proud to have chosen a local business like Jillery who has been in the neighborhood for many years ..."





Thanks to Steven for the bottom three photos!

Openings (Night Music) and reopenings (Sauce Restaurant)

Night Music officially debuted last night at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

This is Ravi DeRossi's latest vegan entry in the neighborhood. Here's a blurb from Grub Street on this Indian restaurant:

This time DeRossi has a secret weapon: his mom. She taught executive chef Spencer Caine how to cook all the traditional dishes Ravi ate growing up during a months-long vegan-Indian-cooking boot camp at her house in Colorado.

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!



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[Image via Sauce]

And down on Allen at Rivington, Sauce Restaurant re-opens today following a kitchen fire that forced the 8-year-old Italian joint to close back in early January.

The restaurant has been upgraded with a refreshed interior as well as a new food and drinks menu.

Adam Elzer, who took over ownership in 2016, also runs Sauce Pizzeria on 12th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue and Coco & Cru on Broadway at Bleecker.