At the opening night group show at JUICE gallery on St. Mark's Place

Thursday night marked the first group show at JUICE, a new gallery space at 8 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

JUICE, described as a "non-profit gallery dedicated to long-term community building in the instant age," was started by brothers Brendan McElroy and Daniel McElroy ...


[Brendan McElroy]


[Daniel McElroy and Brendan]

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was there for part of the opening, and shares these photos from the space ...









The group show features pieces by Lucien Smith, Spencer Sweeney, Harif Guzman, Jim (The Mosaic Man) Power, Maggie Lee, Perry Khalil and Eric Smith.


[Maggie Lee]









JUICE is open today from noon to 5 p.m.

The 'Price' is right

The Brooklyn-based band Store Front has a new EP out now... the video above is for the debut single, "Rip the Price Off."

Here's the completed mural of Kobe and Gianna Bryant on the Lower East Side

After a week, Mark Paul Deren, aka Madsteez, has finished his tribute to Kobe and Gianna Bryant outside the complex that houses Sun Yat Sen Middle School and Emma Lazarus High School on Hester and Eldridge...



East Village Walls curates this space, and the students here reportedly voted on who they wanted a mural of outside their school.

The mural is based of a photo by Atiba Jefferson.

View this post on Instagram

WEEN legendary photograper @atibaphoto officially lets you use his @kobebryant x GiGi photo for reference. —————-> 📷 @just_a_spectator 📷 @smurffedout 🏛 @eastvillagewalls

A post shared by MARK PAUL DEREN (@madsteez) on Feb 26, 2020 at 2:01pm PST

Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed alongside seven other people on Jan. 26 when the helicopter they were in crashed in California.

Today in ads for Zipcar on Astor Place

A reader shared the above photo from Astor Place this morning... showing a car under what's meant to be a mound of snow (remember when it used to snow here in the winter?)

Here's a closer look at what turns out to be an ad for Zipcar... here are photos via EVG Zipcar Ad Correspondent Steven ... showing some details on the snowbank...









Noticeably missing — a design by one of the many Penistrators ...

Zadie's Oyster Room has closed

Zadie's Oyster Room closed last evening after nearly four years in service.

The wine bar-restaurant at 413 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue drew inspiration from NYC's oyster houses from the late 19th century.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by Zadie's last night. Chef-owner Marco Canora, who also runs the nearby Hearth (opened 2003) and Brodo, said that he had no choice but to close the doors ... and expressed regret that a place like Zadie's couldn't draw bigger crowds on a consistent basis with its reasonably priced menu and neighborhood-y crowd. (We heard rumors earlier in the month that Zadie's was closing after the departure of Chef Mike Campanile.)


[Canora]

Zadie's opened in June 2016. He was previously involved with the wine bars Terroir and Fifty Paces at the address.

Now, though Canora says that he doesn't haven't any plans to open a new venture here, and is giving up the space.

Stacie reports that the crowd last evening was festive, with Zadie fans celebrating the space rather than mourning its departure...











Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Zadie's Oyster Room on 12th Street

Stargirl 2020

You've likely seen these flexing, amorphous figures around on various buildings, construction sites, sidewalk cellar doors and at least two USPS trucks in recent weeks.

Here's just a sampling from the past week-plus...





People recall first seeing these in early to mid January...









The figures are growing in popularity, at least among a few Instagram users who have referred to the character as Super Girl (or Supergirl) and Power Puff Girl. We don't know who the identity of the artist, but the person calls these figures Stargirl.



The spray-painted drawings are pretty consistent — a smile, flexing arms and a star on the belly. Sometimes she is alone. Other times in packs. She has been spotted on the Lower East Side. We've had a sighting via a reader on 14th Street and Sixth Avenue. We haven't spotted many, if any, east of Avenue B...



Once she did the splits...



Several times the name Gwen appeared nearby...



























The photos of these on Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place are from late January. They've been painted over.





But there will be many more, no doubt.

The former Manitoba's space receives the plywood treatment on Avenue B

Workers yesterday put up a plywood front outside the former Manitoba's bar at 99 Avenue B ... something they did the previous day at the currently vacant space next door (East Side Ink moved from here to the adjacent storefront in early 2017) ...



One of the workers told EVG correspondent Steven, who took these photos, that they are renovating the exterior of the two empty storefronts. He didn't know about any possible new tenants.

A mystery applicant was on the CB3-SLA docket last October for the Manitoba's space, but they withdrew before the meeting.

Manitoba's closed here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street last June after 20 years in service.

P.S.

To recap, East Side Ink is open at 95 Avenue B, next door to their former home.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Manitoba's has closed

Cover letters: Signage comes down at the now-closed Zum Schneider on Avenue C

As you likely know, Zum Schneider wrapped up 20 years of business on Avenue C and Seventh Street on Tuesday night (more like early Wednesday morning).

This afternoon, a worker was spotted removing the biergarten's letters from the exterior (thanks to @michaelfrias27 for the photos!)



Presumably that's someone affiliated with Zum Schneider removing those letters for use in their new location. Owner Sylvester Schneider has said he will find a new NYC outpost for his bar-restaurant.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details about Zum Schneider's February closing date on Avenue C

In bloom

The daffodils are coming up in Tompkins Square Park ... and Goggla notes that we're on crocus alert too...



Happy February!

Here's a look at the new Half Gallery exterior on Avenue B and 4th Street

Workers are removing the plywood from the retail space on the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Avenue B... revealing the all-new storefront that will soon house the the Half Gallery...



In mid-December, the gallery announced it was relocating from the Upper East Side to 235 E. Fourth St.

The gallery, which has worked with Rene Ricard, Louise Bonnet and Nathaniel Mary Quinn, started on the Lower East Side in 2008 before heading north. Here's more via ARTnews:

Bill Powers, who founded Half Gallery, said that many of the artists the gallery has worked with “have a real connection to [the East Village] and that art scene,” adding that the move is “a little bit of a homecoming.”

With the Swiss Institute, the Brant Foundation, and other art institutions opening in the East Village recently, the neighborhood remains a hotspot for art, Powers said, adding, “We used to get a bigger crowd for openings when we were downtown because I think the gravity of the art world, spiritually, is downtown or in the outer boroughs.”

The space is expected to open soon featuring Tanya Merrill's first-ever solo exhibition.

The gallery takes the space of Tapanju Turntable (and Kate's Joint until 2012!).

The exterior is already a marked improved over the Turntable front, which had the warm, inviting look of a visitor's center at a North Korean prison.