Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Funny fundraising business for the Sixth Street Community Center

There's a funny new way to help raise money for the Sixth Street Community Center.

An East Village resident is behind an ongoing series of outdoor comedy shows that serve as a fundraiser for the Center between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

The next show is tomorrow (Sept. 16) night. You can follow @sixthstreetcomedy for details. 

The first show — with very limited capacity — took place last week in a private backyard somewhere in the neighborhood. Seth Herzog hosted the show, with sets by Mark Normand, Jared Freid, Wil Sylvince, Corinne Fisher, Nimesh Patel, Derek Gaines and Liz Miele. Here are a few scenes...
Photos by Matt Salacuse

Reaching the top at Zero Irving (aka tech hub)



Here's what is turning out to be a monthly look at 124 E. 14th St., aka Zero Irving (and formerly the Union Square Tech Training Center and 14 @ Irving ... and tech hub for life!) ... workers are apparently up to the tippy top here at Irving Place...






The latest Zero Irving e-newsletter (14th @ Irving Construction Update #36, and, by the way, #2 is already a collector's item) states the following updates:

Superstructure Concrete
The project’s superstructure contractor will be completing the 23rd floor slab the week of 9/7. They will continue to place stairs at the top of house, in addition to mechanical pads, curbs and the buildings parapets. Upon completion of this miscellaneous concrete the contractor will begin demobilization. This will include cocoon removal, removal of shoring and decking material and other demobilization tasks.

Cellar
The project’s electrical contractor is finishing installation of Switchgear Room equipment and feeder conduits in coordination with Con Ed’s site visits. End line boxes will be completed, along with overhead conduits throughout the cellar. Con Ed is anticipated to complete their pulls and tie-ins to switch gear room. The project is expecting permanent power by October 2020.

General Site
The project’s mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection contractors continue work on site to install sleeves and layout embeds and all other materials being placed into the deck on the 23rd floor. 
The newsletter makes mention of the 23rd floor. The official press release about the project lists this as a 21-floor building. Other news stories mention 21 floors too. The work permit lists 22 floors. Perhaps this 23rd floor mentioned is bulkhead-related. 

The 21-23-story building, developed jointly by the city’s Economic Development Corp. and RAL Development Services, will feature 14 floors of market-rate office space as well as "a technology training center and incubator, co-working spaces and state-of-the-art event space ... on the seven floors beneath," per the Zero Irving announcement issued last October. Food-hall specialists Urban­Space officially signed the lease for 10,000 square feet on the ground level last month.

The new building — long contested by local preservationists and community groups (see links below) — sits on the former site of a P.C. Richard & Son on city-owned property.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

• Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

• City Council unanimously approves tech hub; some disappointment in lack of zoning protections 

• The conversation continues on the now-approved tech hub for 14th Street

• P.C. Richard is gone on 14th Street; preservationists want answers about tech-hub commitments


Monday, September 14, 2020

It's full, wrapped in plastic: A Big Belly on B needs emptied out

An EVG reader shares these Big Belly photos from outside Sheen Brothers on Avenue B at 10th Street... the solar-powered trash can is full... and to prevent people from continuing using this for trash, or even stacking stuff on top, someone basically wrapped it with plastic and posted multiple notes ...


The Big Belly trash cans arrived here in July 2017 as part of the city's $32-million plan to combat vermin in rat-popular neighborhoods, like this one.

H/T Pete Martell!

Today's special guest at the Tompkins Square Park dog run

 Say a prayer! EVG regular Greg Masters spotted this today (Praying Mantis, right?) hanging out at the dog run in Tompkins Square Park...

CB3 wants your input on 2021 budget priorities

 Community Board 3 shared this information...

What parks need reconstruction? What programs need funding? Help us assess the needs of our community.

Every year the Community Board submits a list of capital and expense budget priorities to city agencies. This hearing is your opportunity to have input into these district budget priorities. Tell us how money should be spent in Community Board 3.

Organizations, groups, and individuals representing all segments of the community are encouraged to participate.

CB 3 Public Hearing — FY 2022 Budget Priorities
Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Online: https://zoom.us/j/94839426844
By Phone:  +1 646 518 9805, +1 929 205 6099
Meeting ID:  948 3942 6844

Farewells: Funny Face Bakery has outgrown its East Village space


[Photo Friday by Lola Sáenz]

A for lease sign now hangs in the front window at the former Funny Face Bakery space on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

However, it's a more-positive closure: Funny Face, which specializes in hand-painted face cookies of actors, politicians and various celebrities, is moving to a larger location outside the neighborhood.

Per a recent Instagram post:

Funny Face Bakery is moving up and moving out. We are so fortunate to have outgrown the space that has treated us so well for the last four years. It’s a bittersweet goodbye closing the doors to our East Village store. We survived the rain, but now we need to use it to grow.

No official word on the new location, though a source on the block said it will be in Brooklyn.

Sarah Silverman opened the bakery — originally called Cupcake Market — here in April 2016.

However, in a rebrand coinciding with a new online shop, Cupcake Market evolved into Funny Face last fall.

Turns out cupcakes weren't the big seller here. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, her hand-painted face cookies of the candidates quickly became hot items.

She soon started creating custom portrait cookies for her customers to celebrate birthdays and other special events... as well as launching a line of intricately designed cookies accurately (and eerily?) depicting various celebrities and movie characters (as seen below with "It" and "Hocus Locus")... and hiring a group of artists from Pratt and SVA to help with the design.


H/T MP and Derek Berg!

Saramsam is a new Filipino restaurant from Ravi DeRossi on 7th Street

Saramsam, a Filipino restaurant from Ravi DeRossi, is now open at 111 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Here's more about it:
Saramsam means "casual dining" in Ilocano, the third-most spoken native language of the Philippines. Hailing from the city of La Union, Executive Chef Raj Abat says he wanted to create a restaurant that was Filipino down to its core — in its warm hospitality, nostalgic ingredients, and informal, communal style of dining. The twist? As part of proprietor Ravi DeRossi’s plant-based Revolution Hospitality Group, we serve Filipino cooking that’s entirely meat free.
[T]o create the menu, Chef Raj looked directly to the flavors of his own childhood — the funk of fermented bagoong shrimp paste, the sour tamarind of sinigang soup. From a plant-based sizzling “sisig” to an adobo of roasted mushrooms, we’ve got something for Filipino food experts and newcomers alike to discover.
You can find the menu and other details here. Saramsam is open for sidewalk dining Wednesday from 5-11 p.m. and from noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. 

 
This is the third concept that DeRossi has tried in the space, following Fire & Water and Night Music. His other establishments include Death & Co. Ladybird and Amor Y Amargo.

Before this space at No. 111 was converted for restaurant use on Seventh Street, it was the Village Style Vintage Shop until the fall of 2016.

Report: Cloister Cafe granted temporary restraining order to reopen


Cloister Cafe will reopen tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 15) on Ninth Street after a judge granted it a temporary restraining order against the State Liquor Authority, Page Six reported

The SLA had suspended the Cloister's liquor license for alleged social-distancing infractions here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue last month. 

According to the SLA report that led to the suspension:

Investigators found the restaurant operating as a nightclub and hookah lounge with a live DJ, documenting numerous patrons ignoring social distancing with lines of customers congregating in front of the premises without facial coverings, at least twenty patrons consuming alcohol indoors under a fixed roof, and no receipts for food purchases.

For their part, Cloister Cafe claimed that the SLA didn't properly investigate the alleged violations — and just copied the claims from a Gothamist article.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Sunday's parting shots


Spotted on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B this evening... a little guilt with this freebie... (thanks to Steven for the photos!) ...


Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week included... 

• Lui's Thai Food will not be reopening (Tuesday

•  Scenes from Save Tompkins Day (Wednesday

• The formerly mysterious 84 2nd Ave. no longer looks mysterious at all (Wednesday

• At the start of the NYC Deep Playa Bike Ride (Monday

• A BLM tribute in Tompkins Square Park (Monday

• Ki Smith returns home, and debuts Ki Smith Gallery on 4th Street (Friday

• "Open" your eyes to this nighttime walk through the East Village (Friday

• These 2 buildings on Avenue A are getting taller (Tuesday

• Goats! (Tuesday

• Openings: Km1 brings Caribbean cuisine 1st Street (Wedensday

• ICYMI: Cuomo says indoor dining can resume in NYC on Sept. 30 — at 25-percent capacity (Thursday

• Development watch: Novum EV (Thursday

• Swiss Institute is back open on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Thursday

• Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices opens on today on Avenue A (Friday

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday

• A deli for the former deli at the long-vacant storefront at 118 1st Ave. (Thursday

• Monk Thrift Shop has closed (Wednesday

• Closings: Broken Coconut, Snowdays, Blockheads, By Name (Tuesday

• Checking in on Checkers (Thursday

• An end-of-summer appreciation: The grocery cart garden (Monday

... and for these stressful times, Ash, the owner of Villainess, the secondhand designer black clothing store and event space at 181 Avenue B,  is hosting a socially distant and limited capacity crystal bowl sound bath on Wednesday evening. RSVP: villainessnyc@gmail.com
 ... and from a Citizen user was apparently having fun with this report...
--- 

Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Noted

And ICYMI... spotted at the Neighborhood Deli at 185 Avenue C between 11th Street and 12th Street... Eden tweeted it last Sunday and it went viral (dwarfing the Kardashianism singage tweet!)... the sign has also been spotted in other cities (and boroughs) these past few months...

St. Mark's Place between A and 1st now an open street for dining on weekends

St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue has been added to the list of the city streets closed off for dining on the weekends. 

Back on Friday, Mayor de Blasio announced 40 open-street additions for the city's Open Restaurants program. He also extended the program through Oct. 31. 

This block of St. Mark's join these other EV streets already participating in the program (as of July): 

• St Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue 
• Avenue B between Second Street and Fourth Street 
• Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue 

These corridors are in dining mode on Friday from 5-11 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 11 p.m. 

Thanks to Steven for the photo!

Kong is missing

Back in February we had the story about how Kong, the stuffed animal that longtime East Village resident Nefertiti Jones had as a child, ended up in the Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden. (Link to the story is below.) 

Anyway, as the headline tells you, KONG IS NOW MISSING!

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Saturday's parting shot

A moment during the Pinc Louds set today in Tompkins Square Park via Derek Berg...

This should be a photo of the Empire State Building

Still working out the kinks of the new Blogger platform. (Please see the earlier posts today. I would link to them, but...) Over the next few days we will be testing the new platform and working out the kinks of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). 

Anyway, the new uploading system is a little screwy... So please excuse our appearance while we're under re-construction. There will be a few more (pointless than usual) posts for testing purposes in the hours and days ahead.

The 1st Tompkins Square Arts + Crafts and Book Fair is TODAY

Via the EVG inbox...
Come and get works of art, hand made crafts, books, records, videos, and more — all offered by members of your community on the Lower East Side. There will also be book readings, musicians and speakers. At dusk, we will be showing the amazing film called "Loose Change" (a student-made documentary about 9/11).
Fair times are listed from noon to 6 p.m. Visit the Facebook invite for more details.

Noted

Parking in the time of curbside dining. As seen this morning on Avenue A at Sixth Street. 

Still working out the html kinks on the new Blogger content tool. Testing, testing.

This morning in photos of the sun through trees

From this morning Tompkins Square Park (above) and along the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street...
This is also a test of sorts ... because stupid Blogger has forced a new template on the Blogger community... the post-creating tool is taking some getting used to... As fellow Blogger user Goggla noted: "Formatting the HTML has become an obnoxious chore." +1.

So things may look a little funky for awhile... this also may mean fewer posts for the near future ...

Friday, September 11, 2020

Friday's parting shot



Thank you to Deb Kadetsky for this photo of the Tribute in Light tonight...

'Hold' on



Death Valley Girls have a new record, Under the Spell of Joy, out on Oct. 2. Ahead of that, here's a single from the release titled "Hold My Hand."

'Open' your eyes to this nighttime walk through the East Village



Here's info about a new nighttime walking tour through parts of the neighborhood... via the EVG inbox...

"OPEN" is a series of temporary light art installations occupying a selection of storefronts in the East Village. Visitors are invited to discover the neighborhood anew via a mapped out nightwalk. The walk links both empty and occupied storefronts transformed through a mix of light projections and radiant effusions of color.

Sponsored by the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY), the Flint Collective NYC partnered with lighting manufacturers and local business owners to respond to a city transformed by the global pandemic. In the rhythm of closed storefronts "OPEN" offers an optimistic pause of light and color.

"People may be cynical in thinking of these storefronts as failed capitalism, but each one has a history and plays a vital role in creating and sustaining vibrant communities," said Yasmina Palumbo of neighboring business MUD NYC and site partner for OPEN.

The installation is spread out across eight sites in the East Village and is active from Saturday Sept. 12 through Sept. 20, 7:30-11 p.m.

The following sites are on the tour:

• 155 Avenue B
• 111 East 7th Street
• 336 East 11th Street
• 307 East 9th Street
• 436 East 9th Street
• 337 East 9th Street
• 107 Ave B
• Secret Site

And if a map helps...

Ki Smith returns home, and debuts Ki Smith Gallery on 4th Street



The Ki Smith Gallery is now open on Fourth Street (first reported here) ... EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the soft opening on Wednesday evening to check out new works on paper by Caslon Bevington, Morell Cutler, Charlie Hudson, Max "Senor Melon" Hodgson, Sono Kuwayama, Julia Powers, Luke Ivy Price, Kiyomi Taylor and Sei Smith...


[Sono Kuwayama]


[Caslon Bevington]


[The work of Kiyomi Taylor]


[Charlie Hudson]

Ki Smith is an East Village native and current resident... he most recently showcased emerging artists from a space on West 125th Street. Smith has worked for 10 years as an independent curator. His résumé includes launching the Bushwick-based gallery and performance space Apostrophe in 2012.

"It took us 10 years to make it back to the East Village where I grew up," Smith said with a laugh.



The gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram here.

Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices opens on today on Avenue A


[Photo by Vinny & O]

The EV outpost of Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices and Ice Cream officially opens today at 145 Avenue A at Ninth Street.

Daily hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The business dates to 1928 when Ralph Silvestro started selling Italian ice (or water ice) from his truck around Staten Island. The first retail store opened in 1949 on Port Richmond Avenue in Staten Island. In recent years the company has franchised out, expanding to other parts of NYC as well as Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester County.

This marks the third outpost in Manhattan.

Previously.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Thursday's parting shot



In the rain on Second Avenue today ... via Derek Berg...

Sept. 10



EVG reader IzF spotted this today on Third Street between Avenue C and Avenue D... currently the leader.

City nixes MoRUS Film Festival this weekend at the Peachtree Community Garden



Updated 2 p.m.: Green Thumb now says that MoRUS can complete the last three nights of the festival on Oct. 2-4.

The four-night MoRUS Film Festival is now down to one evening.

According to a MoRUS spokesperson, the NYC Parks GreenThumb, citing COVID-19 concerns, are now prohibiting the screenings Friday through Sunday at the Peachtree Community Garden on Second Street.

MoRUS is refunding tickets for those nights.

Tonight's screenings at Le Petit Versailles on Second Street near Avenue C are still a go:

• Thursday, Sept. 10: "InSects & FlowerSex (The Birds & The Bees)"
Le Petit Versailles, 247 E. 2nd Street, 8 p.m.

A lively, living mixed-media series of shorts featuring films from 1930s to 1970s. In keeping with Le Petit Versailles' legacy of creative disruption, the evening will include avant garde movies such as "Killers of the Insect World" and "Woody Woodpecker & The Termites from Mars" with live sound by LeLe Dai aka Lullady, a radio collage soundtrack by Jeanne Liotta and live soundtrack performances by Pinc Louds and by Richard Sylvarnes.

The viewing for these screenings will be on the sidewalk outside the space.

This was the eighth annual Film Festival for the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, which archives urban activism from 155 Avenue C.

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 NYC ... as well as political observations on current events...

Development watch: Novum EV



Here's a look at the 7-floor, 20-unit residential building under construction at 238 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

The broker bunting arrived on the sidewalk bridge here earlier in the summer for the condoplex, which is going as Novum EV (Or NOVUM EV)...





The listings for the 1- and 2-bedroom units (and penthouse) do not appear to be online just yet. Noted amenities include fitness studio and wet bar, outdoor recreation area, cold storage and triple glass exterior windows.

Landlord Vinbaytel Property Development has put up several East Village condos in recent years, including at 227 E. Seventh St., 67 Avenue C and 26 Avenue B.

Workers demolished the previous building on the lot, a two-level structure once owned by the Blue Man Group, in the summer of 2019.

Previously on EV Grieve:
7-story residential building planned for former Blue Man Group facilities on 3rd Street

Swiss Institute is back open on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place


[Image via]

The Swiss Institute, the nonprofit arts organization, reopened yesterday here on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

The return exhibit is titled Tenet, based on Christopher Nolan's budding blockbuster of the same name (which we can't see in NYC for the time being ... because theaters remain closed).

A preview via artnet News:

[T]he time inversion-themed film — specifically the delay of its release — has served to inspire a presentation of video works by Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Moyra Davey, Yu Honglei and Steffani Jemison.

Like "Tenet," each of these pieces features the manipulation of time, with the artists rewinding, speeding up, slowing down, or otherwise editing their footage to alter the normal sequence. Each work will be on view at the institution for one week during the show’s run.

The show runs through Nov. 1. Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 2-8 p.m.; Saturday, noon-8 p.m.; Sunday, noon-6 p.m. The admission is free. You can also visit Printed Matter in the lobby.

The nonprofit institution was created in 1986. They opened the EV outpost in June 2018 at the site of a former Chase branch.

ICYMI: Cuomo says indoor dining can resume in NYC on Sept. 30 — at 25-percent capacity


[B&H Dairy as seen in 2018]

In case you didn't catch this news yesterday afternoon... Gov. Cuomo announced that indoor dining in New York City can resume on Sept. 30 with a 25-percent occupancy limit.

And the bullet points on guidance for indoor dining in NYC:

  • 25 percent occupancy limit
  • Temperature checks will be required at the door for all customers
  • One member of each party will be required to provide contact information for tracing if needed
  • No bar service — bars will only be used as service bars, a source of making drinks and serving them tableside
  • Masks must be worn at all times when not seated at a table
  • Tables must be six feet apart
  • Restaurants close at midnight
  • Strict adherence to all State-issued guidance
  • Restaurants should operate with enhanced air filtration, ventilation and purification standards
  • Limit air recirculation and allow for outside air ventilation
  • Outdoor dining will continue in the interim

Indoor dining has been banned since the COVID-19 PAUSE went into effect on March 22. More than NYC 1,000 bars and restaurants have shuttered since then, per Eater.

East Village closures include Jewel Bako, Porsena, Oda House and Mermaid Inn... and maybe Odessa.

A deli for the former deli at the long-vacant storefront at 118 1st Ave.



A quick note from the EVG tipline... a deli looks to be the new tenant for the long-vacant NE corner space at 118 First Ave. at Seventh Street. (H/T Upper West Sider!)

Paperwork filed for this address with the state lists the corporation name as East 7th Deli & Cafe Corp. (The storefront is no longer on the rental market.)

No. 118 First Ave. had been vacant since Golden Food Market closed here in the summer of 2017 after 35 years in business. Before their lease wasn't renewed, an LLC with a West 11th Street address bought the building in the spring of 2017 for $5.8 million, per public records.

Golden Food Market owner Ali Fardos now runs East Village Organic a few storefronts away.

A tapas-wine bar was in the works for No. 118 in April 2018, but those plans never materialized.

Checking in on Checkers


[Photo by Steven]

The Checkers outpost has First Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street had been very quiet these past six months... and there was some speculation among Checkers Watchers® that this quick-serve location was not going to reopen following the COVID-19 PAUSE. (Last we checked, this Checkers looked checked out.)

However, as the top photo from yesterday shows, Checkers returned to service this week for takeout and delivery... and there's even one seat for dining alfresco.

Hard to believe but this Checkers has already been here for almost six years.