[I]n its prime it was perhaps the epitome of an East Village bar: menacing, dark and covered inside and out by graffiti, stickers and impromptu spray-painted artworks. Its forbidding restroom was an urban legend in and of itself.It wasn't always that way ... per a different feature at the Times:
When the bar opened in 1984 ... the facade was gleaming. "We thought, 'Oh no, another sushi bar; there goes the neighborhood,'" said Jim Sizelove, who was part of the rowdy art scene called the Rivington School.We can relive the bar here for a moment... in 2016, East Village-based filmmaker Jenny Woodward released an entertaining video short titled "Last Days of the Mars Bar," featuring interviews with Penza in the days leading up to the bar's closure.
The corner storefronts where Mars Bar stood were eventually demolished in late 2011/early 2012 to make way for the residential building called Jupiter 21. The corner space now houses a TD Bank and Kollectiv, "an urban retreat center" that features an herbal pharmacy and spa.
6 pm Gujarat India views. 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/728E80kh1t
— WordsbyDhaval (@dpmsocial) July 17, 2021
From street art to photography the block will be part gallery, part stage and part dance.
A raffle and auction will allow anyone to win the artwork. All proceeds will go directly into the pockets of the participating musicians.
Overall it's a desire to once again light up the foundation these artists built careers on and inspire the power of community collaboration.
The transaction was a joint negotiation among Transformco, Vornado and the new tenant, sources said. The regional grocer that will be taking over the NoHo location has not been disclosed.However, those sources said the new tenant will be a "first-class regional grocer."
I hated this place but damn if it wasn’t there exactly when you needed it most. https://t.co/NowUTx0nbz
— Hannah Vanbiber (she/her) (@HannahVanbiber) July 14, 2021
The last time I was in here (ca. 2000), I had just left Other Music when I stepped in a pile of dog shit so massive it rendered my shoes unsalvageable. I left my shoes sitting in the pile, walked barefoot across Astor Place, into this K-Mart & bought a pair of fake Chucks for $15 https://t.co/qufptWM0dI
— Ben Boyer (@sleezsisters) July 14, 2021
RIP Astor Place Kmart, you were literally the worst. https://t.co/6GPcz3oW6M
— Jason Selvig (@jasonselvig) July 13, 2021
I once held the door open for Chloë Sevigny here. A part of my history. https://t.co/veASuznu20
— Angel Lopez (@Ariessoul329) July 13, 2021
This plus the death of the Kmart Penn station for the late aughts FIT girlies … end me https://t.co/l29yY3sNPH
— carina hsieh (@carinahsieh) July 13, 2021
rip to this alternate dimension of a place that inexplicably didn’t carry marshmallows https://t.co/iLKASo4kXh
— aloe fullee (@alliefulls) July 13, 2021
On hot summer days, I would stroll through this K-Mart while waiting for friends, who were running late—to not have to wait in the NYC heat/humidity. Rest In Peace to iconic relic. https://t.co/AqiddjKt1K
— BG (@TheBGates) July 13, 2021
I used to lowkey walk through here to kill time when I went to school in the area from 4th - 8th grade
— Toxic Crew (@ToxicCrewNY) July 13, 2021
RIP TO A FUCKING LEGEND https://t.co/x16XSymSIQ
When this moved into the East Village, it felt like end-times. https://t.co/zYO8UQLB6q
— Charles McNulty (@CharlesMcNulty) July 13, 2021
Don’t usually have sympathy for large chains but am deffo a bit emotional as this is where I repeatedly tried on items from the Adam Levine clothing line and cried about gender in the dressing rooms. I mean truly, THIS is where most of my gender CRISIS happened. https://t.co/YLwWg4sQKl
— Futaba Shioda (@FutabaShioda) July 12, 2021
roaming the aisles of this kmart in 2012 with my girlies texting our rolodexes “whats the address of that st mark’s deli that doesn’t card againnnn (:” https://t.co/ERMlEflDvV
— Vassileia Kazee (@vassileiafoxy) July 12, 2021
RIP I once went in here deeply drunk after doing $2 shots at The Continental thinking it would be the easiest place to find a public bathroom, couldn’t find it until I had substantially pee’d in my pants, and then bought new jeans and changed into them and threw my old ones away. https://t.co/l5omUaoYfr
— Jesse, Alternatively (@shartlito) July 12, 2021
Fun fact, this location was my FIRST job. I am in shock right now! https://t.co/6cEPy91dF0
— who? (@yeahokgurl) July 12, 2021
Wait, I need to return the Martha Stewart sheets I got there in the '90s! https://t.co/IBJl0acTvJ
— Robert David Sullivan (@RobertDSullivan) July 12, 2021
I once had a date and decided to wear a NuBra but couldn’t figure out how to stick it on and started sweating on the 6 train and one of the boobs migrated down to my rib. The Astor Place Kmart bathroom is where I finally tore the thing off and stuffed it into my purse. RIP. https://t.co/Wgd1ewrXW0
— Joyce Wu 吳 元 欣 (@oneandonlyjoyce) July 12, 2021
RIP Astor Place Kmart. You outfitted generations of freshman NYU students in the span of a week and then did seemingly no business the rest of the year. https://t.co/5reqxCNqgT
— Kirby Pate (@KPateNews) July 12, 2021
As a real piece of shit 18 year old, I used to steal 10 packs of Double A batteries from here for my Walkman that I had spray painted white and written "iPod" on in magic marker. https://t.co/Jc2nR6IwXo
— Easy Miyake (@popopopolio) July 12, 2021
Through thick and thin my faith in New York was always underpinned philosophically by the existence of the Astor Place KMart. This one hurts https://t.co/qw9uJNbgi9
— kelly farber (@kelfarbs) July 12, 2021
RIP to this incredible and bizarre place. Saved me so many times. She held out and gave NYC her all❣️ https://t.co/kwLtz9GtZ5
— Marlene Lenthang (@marlenelenthang) July 14, 2021
where my friends and i killed time between school and driver's ed 😢 https://t.co/G5jOTLeYaW
— Hannah Bloch-Wehba (@HBWHBWHBW) July 12, 2021
seeing fran lebowitz doing irritated pre-storm shopping at the astor k mart before hurricane sandy remains my favorite celeb sighting, RIP to this big box legend https://t.co/ajNnWHGPbI
— Virginia K. Smith (@vksmith) July 12, 2021
We're losing all the local businesses that made New York great. If this becomes a bookstore I'll cry. https://t.co/eBVg8KdDPh
— Matt Nedostup (@nedostup) July 12, 2021
Went to the Seventh Street Van Leeuwen to try the Kraft mac-n-cheese flavor and it's good. I was prepared to hate it but it's solid. It tastes just like the blue box mac and cheese, right down to the slippery soft noodle taste. Savory.
While there, Stacie came across someone else trying the new flavor (no word if anyone asked her to try it!)...
It was HIGHLY CONTENTIOUS. It was supposed to be an 85-person cap but the place was packed and there was still a line outside. The DOT presentation drew a lot of negative attention from the crowd, who were frustrated with their inability to speak.
The DOT speech was interrupted constantly with claims of a filibuster and frustration that the community wasn't given time to speak. When they finally were given time, each person was given one-minute. Everyone was yelling and it was a mess.
"This whole program is going to turn our area into an open-air alcohol zone," echoed David Crane, a longtime CB3 member. One resident said he'd been forced to listen to "'Happy Birthday' sung outside my window 20 times a day," as others shouted that "this isn't Paris!"
While local business owners were largely absent from the meeting, they too expressed anger with the DOT's handling of the program. Moshe Schulman, a managing partner of Kindred on 6th Street, said the agency had conducted a "sweep" just prior to the meeting, handing out citations for offenses such as being too close to a tree and blocking a "no parking" sign.
He was given just 24 hours to address the violations, which he described as "ridiculous and inaccurate." "People think we’re done with COVID and everything is all great," Shulman told Gothamist. “We’re just starting to get on our feet and try to normalize service.”• Streetsblog
There was plenty of talk of compromise and coexistence from the crowd of 90, but many attendees went nuclear, demanding no outdoor dining at all, denouncing struggling restaurants and bars as greedy land-grabbers, and, in one case, waving signs inspired by George Orwell's classic Dystopian novel: "1984: War is Peace. 2021: Residential is commercial."
One opponent was overheard outside the meeting comparing their struggle to that of Martin Luther King Jr. One speaker declared — to a room where more than half the people were still wearing masks — that the pandemic was over, and therefore outdoor dining should be, too.• The Village Sun
Residents bemoaned the transformation of their community into what might be dubbed "Bourbon Street with yurts."
"I love my neighborhood!" one man started yelling emotionally over and over, also mentioning his "mental health," as others applauded supportively.
One woman, in an apparent reference to the Black Death of the 14th century, a bubonic plague spread by fleas piggybacking on rats, warned that the outdoor huts could breed a repeat. "These sheds are rat traps!" she declared. "We are feeding rats. We just went through a pandemic — we are inviting the next pandemic with these sheds."
A young guy in his 30s named Sam Zimmerman stands up and speaks in support of the program — just the second person to do so thus far. He says the meeting's attendees are not representative of what the neighborhood actually thinks about streeteries, and that most people support the program. "People who are against it are people who come out to these things," he says, and is promptly booed. "There's 165,000 people in this district," he continues. "How many of them are here? People don't want to get screamed at by their neighbors." Everyone mumbles loudly, and someone yells "Where are you from?" and he responds: "From here!"
In addition to the zoning amendment, the City will move administration of the sidewalk café program from the Department of Consumer Affairs and Workforce Protection to DOT, streamline the application process and create rules for a permanent roadway dining program. Altogether, restaurants will have a single agency to go to apply for outdoor dining, with a clear set of design guidelines on what is allowed.
And:
The proposed zoning text amendment would affect every community district within the City. The proposed action would remove the definitions of sidewalk cafes from the Zoning Resolution and any mentions of them in special districts, as well as other clean-up text to fully remove any zoning prohibitions related to the operation of sidewalk cafes.
Bellamy had suffered a puncture wound to his chest, though at this time, police do not know the nature of the injury — or whether he had been attacked.
