Thursday, May 6, 2021
Grant Shaffer's NY See
Take part in this Jacob Riis Art Walk today
If you can't make it today, then take the time on another day (it should be up all summer) to check out their work inspired by the Riis community.
Photo of Joalis Silva via Instagram. The top pic in the post is part of the Lee Jiménez display.
Reconstruction of the McKinley Playground appears to be winding down
Workers have put in a new playground and spray shower as well as safety surfacing, benches, lighting, play equipment, etc.
And there's a new "comfort station"...
And a view through the fence...
And for more details on the final product...
The NYC Parks website states that the project is 84-percent complete. There's a September completion date, though the rendering onsite lists a summer finish.
Sly Fox is open for REAL now
Unfortunately, a bicycling mishap involving the bartender pushed back that opening.
However, now... the bar in the Ukrainian National Home is up and running nightly at 6 (as of May 1).
Go say hi to Andrej behind the bar...
Thanks to Steven for the photos!
Hot dog!? Crif Dogs reopens on St. Mark's Place
The hot doggery is now in its 20th year, having debuted in 2001.
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m. Find their Instagram here.
H/T Vinny & O. Old photo by EVG.
On University Place, Agata & Valentina has closed ahead of building demolition, condo construction
The date was a few weeks earlier than some folks expected. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the New York State Department of Labor in February stated that the store would permanently shutter on May 12. (H/T Bayou for that tip earlier this year.)
Argo Real Estate paid $30 million for the building in 2019, city records show. There isn't any public record of what they have planned for this space a few blocks from Washington Square Park. In March, Village Preservation reported that a 12-story building is possible.
Efforts to landmark No. 64-66 were not successful: Demolition permits were issued for this four-story building back in February, per the DOB. (The tenant on the upper floors, the Institute of Audio Research, closed in 2017.)
Agata & Valentina, which opened here in 2012, will continue on from their original (1993) Upper East Side location.
Go Fish: Osakana sets up for sushi on St. Mark's Place
Aside from a seafood market, they'll be offereing a variety of fresh-fish and ramen options for pick-up or delivery. (Details here.)
Osakana, a spin-off operation from Japanese restaurant Okonomi//Yuji Ramen, first opened in Brooklyn in the summer of 2016.
This space was previously Zoku Sushi, a delivery-only service.
Photos by Steven
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
EVG Etc.: Celebrating Lower East Side History Month; Reopening restaurants to full capacity
• A Q&A with Eric Sze, the co-owner of 886 on St. Mark's Place and founder of the grassroots initiative Enough Is Enough (Eater)
• Events for Lower East Side History Month (Official site)
• Asian American history in the neighborhood (Off the Grid)
• The number of NYC pedestrian fatalities is up 65 percent in the first four months of this year (Gothamist)
• Subways coming back to 24/7 schedule (Jalopnik) ... with restaurants hitting full capacity on May 19 (Eater NY)
• Sheldon Silver returns to the LES after early release from prison (NY1)
• Why Bagel Boss is expanding with locations on 14th Street and East Houston (Forbes... first on EVG)
• Amelia feeds her red-tailed offspring in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)
... and thanks to Nat Esten for letting us know that the Bean's new awnings arrived yesterday on Second Avenue and Third Street...
A look at local vaccination progress
Vaccine hesitancy and barriers to access are cited as among the top reasons why more residents haven't received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Per Gothamist:
About 44% of New York City residents have received at least one COVID-19 shot, and about 32% are fully vaccinated. But some neighborhoods are much further along than others. In wealthier and whiter zip codes, more than two-thirds of residents are at least partially vaccinated (one zip code in the Financial District is at 89%). Most neighborhoods in upper Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island are well below half their populations being fully vaccinated.The article includes a map of vaccinations by zip code via statistics by the NYC Department of Health.
Here's a look at zip codes in this area:
10009
Partially vaccinated: 58 percent
Fully vaccinated: 42 percent
10003
Partially vaccinated: 62 percent
Fully vaccinated: 45 percent
10002
Partially vaccinated: 60 percent
Fully vaccinated: 43 percent
As of late April, appointments are no longer necessary at city- and state-run vaccination sites. The COVID vaccine finder is here.
You can also schedule an appointment for certain vaccination sites by calling 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692). Free transportation to vaccination appointments in NYC is available for city residents 65 and older and those with disabilities who have no other way to get to a vaccination site. To arrange for transportation, call 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692).
Mayor de Blasio has set a goal of vaccinating 5 million New Yorkers by July 1.
Wine bar in the works for this former dry cleaners on 1st Avenue
Jorge Arias is on this month's CB3 SLA committee agenda Monday evening for the unnamed bar "specializing in small, handmade wines." (This item will not be heard in front of the committee.)
The questionnaire (PDF here) on the CB3 website shows that the space will have five tables for 30 guests and a six-seat bar. The proposed hours are noon to midnight daily.
Arias operates several like-minded businesses, including the Wine Hut on Sixth Avenue and, closer to home, Urban Wine & Spirits a few storefronts away.
Exquisite Cleaners closed last summer ... one of 10 dry cleaners in the East Village to close during the pandemic.
Plywood for the former Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place
We have no idea what's happening here. A DOB permit — filed in late April — simply lists the placement of a fence on the property.
We've seen some construction activity here off and on the past few years... though a look inside the door revealed a big empty space. (Once, we spotted a set of golf clubs and a grill.)
Hard to believe that the Grassroots has been gone this long already, closing after service on New Year’s Eve 2017... ending a 42-year run.
As noted many times before, No. 20, known as the Daniel LeRoy House, was built in 1832 here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (It received landmark status in 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.)
Past lives of this subterranean space — via Daytonian in Manhattan — include a theater-saloon called Paul Falk's Tivoli Garden in the 1870s... in the 1930s, the Hungarian Cafe and Restaurant resided here before becoming a temperance saloon called the Growler.
After the Grassroots closed, Bob Precious tried to open a bar-pub here, but those plans never materialized after 18 months. It remains empty three-and-a-half years later.
Applicants for Ichibantei had been on the CB3-SLA agenda multiple times dating to November 2018 for a liquor license for a new restaurant in the former Sounds storefront upstairs. There was speculation that they were also taking the GR space.
Past lives of this subterranean space — via Daytonian in Manhattan — include a theater-saloon called Paul Falk's Tivoli Garden in the 1870s... in the 1930s, the Hungarian Cafe and Restaurant resided here before becoming a temperance saloon called the Growler.
After the Grassroots closed, Bob Precious tried to open a bar-pub here, but those plans never materialized after 18 months. It remains empty three-and-a-half years later.
Applicants for Ichibantei had been on the CB3-SLA agenda multiple times dating to November 2018 for a liquor license for a new restaurant in the former Sounds storefront upstairs. There was speculation that they were also taking the GR space.
Next? Dunno, aside from a lot of tags on that fresh plywood tapestry.
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
• Behold these murals uncovered behind the bar at the former Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place
• 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
• Behold these murals uncovered behind the bar at the former Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark's Place
Tony's Pizza signage arrives on 2nd Avenue
We reported last month that a pizzeria is in the works for this space between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place that previously housed Nolita Pizza ... which left last June after a year for a newer outpost down on Kenmare Street.
Not sure at the moment if this Tony is related to any other Tony's Pizza places, like the one out on Graham Avenue in East Williamsburg.
Previously here: Kati Roll Company bowed out in April 2019 after just under three years in business. The longtime previous tenant at the address, The Stage, the 35-year-old lunch counter, closed in March 2016 following an ongoing legal/eviction battle with Icon Realty, who had taken over as the landlord.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
We're going to need larger solar-powered, rat-proof trash cans
Updated:
And via Steven...
RIP Madelaine (Dee) Ferro
Via the EVG inbox...
Residents of Saint Mark's Place greatly miss their friend Madelaine (Dee) Ferro, who passed away this past week at NYU Langone from complications due to COVID-19. Dee leaves two children and many friends, who she always had time for. She was known for her great devotion to animal care.
Her viewing is today from 4-9 p.m. (with a religious service at 6 p.m.) at Peter Jarema Funeral Home, 129 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. There will be a mass tomorrow morning at 9:30 at St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Church, 101 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, followed by burial in the Bronx.
Thank you to Allen Semanco
Volunteers at East Village Loves NYC prepare meal for Ramadan; celebrate 1st anniversary
East Village Loves NYC — the local volunteer group that formed last spring to feed people in need during the pandemic — is continuing to make meals and celebrating the multiple religious holidays of New Yorkers
For Ramadan, the volunteers collaborated on an interfaith dinner. Per the group's website: "In Islam, there is a concept called Iftar. It occurs during Ramadan, and it's a time where Muslims all over the world serve free food so that people from all walks of life can eat together."
EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C the other day as the volunteers prepped the meals that went to five mosques in the Bronx and one on Long Island...
As they noted on Instagram:
What started with our team of five or six friends doing a cooking session to help their neighborhood, turned into a massive family of hundreds of volunteers gathering every week to deliver thousands of meals to New York City.Early on, Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B Cafe on Seventh Street near Avenue B, donated his space on Mondays for the group to cook its meals. By last June, they had outgrown the space and started assembling deliveries at the Sixth Street Community Center. By the end of the summer, East Village Loves Queens expanded operations and announced its new name — East Village Loves NYC.
Watching 21-23 Avenue B merge and grow
As we first reported back in October, workers are adding two new floors and combining the existing two four-story structures here between Second Street and Third Street ...
New York Yimby had some new details about the project the other day... such as!
The new building will now stand six stories above ground, each with a cellar level and a communal roof terrace. The neighboring properties will each house seven apartments and comprise 9,800 square feet.And...
All combined, available apartments will include six five-bedroom homes and eight two-bedroom units, with select units offering private outdoor space. All residents will have access to a large open-air roof terrace and cellar-level bike storage. In addition to a residential lobby, two 800-square-foot commercial suites will occupy the ground floor of each building...Icon Realty's Terrence Lowenberg is behind this project set to be complete later in 2022.
Here's a look at the finished project via Gambino + LaPorta Architecture...
Intellectual property: Thirsty Scholar giving way to the Long Pour
As previously reported, new owners, David Harris and Cris Nastasi, will be opening a like-minded bar here called the Long Pour. Harris served as manager of Bull McCabe's on St. Mark's Place and previously worked as a bartender at now-closed block-mates the Telephone Bar & Grill and Ryan's Irish Pub. Nastasi was born and raised in the neighborhood and spent 15 years as the technical director of "Stomp" at the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue.
And Pete the bartender from the Thirsty Scholar will be working at the Long Pour as well.
H/T Steven
Openings: Rosemary's East, an Italian restaurant at 350 1st Ave.
The @Stuytown Instagram account had this quickie overview: "The Italian restaurant, whose menu is heavy on pasta and pizza, has an extensive wine bar, sidewalk cafe, and an airy, indoor dining room with skylights."
Rosemary's East is a sibling to Rosemary's on Greenwich Avenue and part of the Casa Nela hospitality company.
According to the Post, Stuy Town-Peter Cooper landlord the Blackstone Group has revenue "participation" in the new restaurant.
"Blackstone paid for what the partners called a 'significant' portion of the buildout for the 6,800 square-foot space," the Post reported.
Will update with menus and hours once that info is available.
Petite Abeille and Vamos! previously occupied this space.
Image via @Stuytown
Monday, May 3, 2021
ICYMI: City Council voted to make Open Streets permanent
The bill has moved on for approval by Mayor de Blasio, who has already signaled support of the program.
According to various media accounts, Open Streets will be overseen by the Department of Transportation or local community organizations that can apply to manage the programs in their neighborhoods.
In addition, roadways included in Open Streets will be up for annual review, at which point the DOT can recommend permanent design changes to streets, such as the construction of pedestrian plazas.
Per Gothamist:
Currently, there are around 235 Open Streets locations comprising around 70 miles (there are roughly 6,000 miles of roadway in New York City). Only about 50 of those locations are managed by a local partner, like a community nonprofit or a restaurant; the rest are technically managed by the NYPD and the DOT, and are essentially neglected.In the East Village, Avenue B between Sixth Street and 14th Street is hosted by the Loisaida Open Streets Community Coalition, which continues to add programming. (For instance, they teamed up with the 14th Street Y for a series of fitness classes between 13th Street and 14th Street on Sundays and Wednesdays in May.)
Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera introduced the legislation, Int. 1933-A. She discusses the next steps in this Streetsblog op-ed from Saturday:
With this legislation passed, I'm excited for the future of open streets. That doesn't mean there aren't still challenges ahead. City agencies must now take greater ownership in these efforts and swiftly respond to people who have committed vandalism and physically and verbally threatened open streets volunteers. We need Mayor de Blasio to expand on the $4 million he committed in this year's budget to open streets operations and to start sending out his new City Cleanup Corps workers into communities to help keep open streets barriers set up and our streets free of trash.
Photo from Saturday by Stacie Joy
Cure Thrift Shop will have a new high-profile corner space
The for-rent signs have come down from the storefront on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and 12th Street...
No word on an opening date...but it's good news that the shop will have such a large, high-profile spot in the future.
As previously reported, Basics Plus was set to close in this storefront in the spring of 2019. However, the housewares shop that opened here in August 2014 ended up consolidating the space, and making do with a smaller footprint in the building.
The Cure's new home — officially 91 Third Ave. — first hit the market last summer.
Surprise! Surprise! was the previous housewares tenant, closing in April 2014 after 25 years in business.
Empty 1st Avenue lot enters the surveillance era
Among the questions the reader had: suggestions or tips for getting the lot better secured from dumping and trespassing.
Last week, someone removed the mushy stacks of boxes, whacked some weeds and posted "private property" signs... 
.... as well as a "you are being watched!!!!!" warning...
We'll see if this keeps the Utz-Chips-box-tossing scofflaws at bay.
This is the second time in recent years that plans have been filed for a new building for the address. In 2017, the city never approved plans for a similar-sized structure — eight units, six floors.
As previously reported, Florence Toledano was the owner of this lot. In 2013, public records show that the deed for the property was transferred from the Florence Toledano Living Trust to 89 First Avenue LLC. The DOB permit lists Daniel Toledano as the manager of the property. (And people always ask: Any relation to former boy wonder tenant hassler, Raphael Toledano? Don't know. Going with No.)
To recap: There are development plans here ... in May 2020, another set of new building permits were filed with the city for the lot. According to the DOB, the proposed building is six floors with eight residential units and ground-floor retail. In total, the structure is 8,183 square feet. The project is still awaiting approval.
This is the second time in recent years that plans have been filed for a new building for the address. In 2017, the city never approved plans for a similar-sized structure — eight units, six floors.
As previously reported, Florence Toledano was the owner of this lot. In 2013, public records show that the deed for the property was transferred from the Florence Toledano Living Trust to 89 First Avenue LLC. The DOB permit lists Daniel Toledano as the manager of the property. (And people always ask: Any relation to former boy wonder tenant hassler, Raphael Toledano? Don't know. Going with No.)
In run-up to reopening, Short Stories is renting its bar by the hour for private drinking sessions
Starting today, when people can legally sit at a bar again, they're holding a "friends and family" preview.
And what does this entail?
We’re letting you buy the whole bar for just you (or you and a friend) one hour at a time. Four hundred plus days ago NYC ended bar service. No one has legally ordered a drink from a bartender in all that time. For $60 you get the whole place to yourself, plus two cocktails, to do just that. We’re running this each Monday until we reopen. This is for the most committed of drinkers.And...
100% of the sales (plus whatever you nice people tip) will go to our wonderful bartending staff. They deserve it.You can find the reservation info here... and it includes a bartender mode 1.) Flirt 2.) Rude 3.) Jovial 4.) Flair.
Short Stories first opened in February 2019.
During the winter-spring hiatus here, there was some speculation that Short Stories was not going to reopen... fueled by cryptic messages in the curbside dining structure...
... "WTF happened to Short Stories" ...
... and "Bowery Kills" ...
Unhappy returns: A one-week respite from a sidewalk bridge
From April 21-23, workers removed the sidewalk bridge from around the northwest corner of Ninth Street and Second Avenue ... after being in place for nearly three years for façade repairs.
Well, as you can see in the top photo, the sidewalk bridge returned to 145 Second Ave. late last week, as Steven noted.
We heard two reasons for this:
a) the bridge came down before inspections took place
b) the repair work wasn't done to spec
No idea how long it will remain up this time.
But it was nice to see the Whiskers Holistic Petcare storefront while we could for the week.
[Updated] The Original Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches has moved on Avenue A
Updated 5/7: Nicky's has moved across to 216 Avenue A. Unfortunately, there wasn't any notice of a move on the old storefront.
This departure isn't a surprise, as a homemade for-rent sign popped up on the front window months ago.
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