Week in Grieview

Posts from this last week included (with a photo of Claudi in Tompkins Square Park Thursday via Steven)

• The East Village Neighbors Community Fridge is up and running again after vandal strikes (Tuesday)  

• Quick-serve veteran China Town closing on East Houston after 32 years in business (Friday) Retail shuffle continues at 250 E. Houston St.; Subway and Dunkin' next to leave (Wednesday) 

• Ray gets his day on Humans of New York (Monday) 

• March gallery expanding on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• The 13th Street Blick is moving to a familiar art-supply spot on 4th Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Activity at the former Jules Bistro on St. Mark's Place (Friday)

• Wrapping up the summer hawk season (Thursday) 

• More details on the East 7th Street fire victims seeking help from their former landlord (Monday) 

• Appreciation post: The tree pit garden on 1st Avenue at 7th Street (Wednesday) 

• Neighborhood Loading Zones, bike lane outlines arrive along Avenue C (Tuesday) 

• Henri flooding in Tompkins Square Park (Sunday) 

• Construction watch: 650 E. 6th St. (Thursday) 

• A place to store your Stuf on 3rd Street (Thursday) 

• Move-in weekend for NYU (Friday) 

• A striped awning for the Tile Bar (Tuesday) 

• Lotto love for the East Village in this TV spot (Wednesday)

... and several readers have asked about the status of 86 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... the lower-level space was Black & White until last fall (and Wiz Kid Management was upstairs a time ago) ... haven't heard what's coming next...

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About those catch basin stencils on East Village streets

We've fielded questions this month about the stenciled messages — "This is not a trash can" — that have arrived on catch basins all around the neighborhood in recent weeks. 

Like crop circles, there were too many of them, too perfect, to be any kind of, say, guerilla art project. 

Anyway, turns out the city is behind the messaging on the catch basins (aka storm drains or sewer grates). 

And thanks to Jonas for this photo ... showing a DEP worker in stenciling action the other day...

So yeah, you're not supposed to dump anything down these (cooking grease, oil, construction waste, sewage, etc.) Will the messaging deter the catch-basin dumpers?

Details on today's Lower East Side United Festival

The annual Lower East Side United Festival is taking place this afternoon from noon to 4. 

The event, at three neighborhood locations, including 737 E. Sixth St. and 730 E. 12th St., will help provide "the community with information and access to free resources available throughout the Lower East Side." 

Kids in attendance can get free back-to-school backpacks and take part in a variety of activities.

Find more details here.

Saturday's parting shot

HBD Jimmy Webb... born on this day in 1957... thanks to EVG reader Bill Baker for this undated photo of Jimmy when he worked at Trash & Vaudeville at 4 St. Mark's Place.

Jimmy died on April 14, 2020, of stomach cancer.

Something for the kids at 6BC Botanical Garden

The 6BC Botanical Garden is hosting its second Children's Fun Summer Event tomorrow (Sunday!) afternoon ... from 1-5, kids (toddler to age 10) can take part in an afternoon of collaging... the garden is supplying the paint and paper. 

The 6BC Botanical Garden is at 630 E. Sixth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Saturday's opening shot

With a steam pipe returning this past week to 10th Street just east of Avenue A...

Friday's parting shot

BKFoxx created this Muhammad Ali mural on Allen Street at Stanton ... a promotion for the upcoming Ken Burns/PBS documentary on the heavyweight champ...

'Rocks Off' on the Bowery

 

Revisiting a few videos by the Rolling Stones after the passing of drummer Charlie Watts this week at age 80. 

Robert Frank shot this footage of the band for a "Rocks Off" video circa 1972... filmed in NYC and Los Angeles... There are some moments on the Bowery here — you may catch a glimpse of the intersection at East Houston...

Quick-serve veteran China Town closing on East Houston after 32 years in business

Sunday is the last day for the quick-serve China Town Restaurant at 250 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

However, you may see them again this fall. Ownership of the 32-year-old establishment there told EVG contributor Stacie Joy that they are negotiating to buy A & C Kitchen on Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. 

Door signage for patrons hints at this...

As we've been reporting, the businesses in the unrenovated section of this retail strip have been announcing plans to move or close. 

The FedEx Office Print & Ship Center and Kapri Cleaners are moving into remodeled storefronts along No. 250. The Subway (sandwich shop) and Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins combo are closing soon without plans for new locations. The Mattress Mart previously shuttered along this corridor. 

Multiple sources along this corridor have said a new residential building is in the works here. Four sources have told Stacie that the one-level row of storefronts is facing demolition. 

This is still speculation: Nothing about a new building or demolition has shown up in DOB records. (We're told that plans will be revealed once all the businesses have left. The photo below is from 2018.)

The 13-floor residential building at 250 E. Houston St., the former Red Square, changed ownership in the fall of 2016 ... and underwent extensive renovations.

It's move-in weekend for NYU

NYU's Fall Residence Hall Move In starts today ... and lasts through Sunday. 

No Parking notices have been posted around the school's dorms in the neighborhood — along Third Avenue and on 12th Street and 14th Street. (Thanks to Doug for the pic!) 

Students who required a quarantine arrived on Aug. 18-19.

Here's NYU's message about the Fall term:

In fall 2021, with vaccination requirements in place for students, faculty, administrators, and staff, NYU will resume in-person classroom instruction and most other pre-COVID activities, and administrative offices will begin in-person operations again. 

Against the backdrop of the lingering risks and uncertainty of COVID-19, we will continue to be guided in our decision-making by a focus on safety and health. The requirement for vaccination of NYU community members — both in New York City and at the majority of our Study Away sites in the U.S. and abroad — remains at the heart of our planning as we carry out NYU’s research and teaching mission.

At this time last year, smaller numbers of students returned to the area ... as NYU employed a physically distanced move-in to the residence halls as some students and faculty returned to campus for in-person instruction with many others taking part in remote learning.

About 2,600 students moved in earlier in the month to quarantine, and another 3,200 are arriving now. pic.twitter.com/dPUJjlAT08

— New York University (@nyuniversity) August 31, 2020

Activity at the former Jules Bistro on St. Mark's Place

Interior renovations continue at 65 St. Mark's Place, the former Jules Bistro between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

We haven't heard just yet what might be coming to this space (the address hasn't shown up on the CB3-SLA docket for a new liquor license).

Jules never reopened after the March 2020 PAUSE. Workers cleaned out the space last September.
 

The casual French spot, which opened in 1993, offered free live jazz every night... and with its French film posters on the walls and red leather booths, always offered a throwback getaway on St. Mark's Place.

Well-regarded restaurateur Georges (Café Noir, Bar Tabac, Cercle Rouge) Forgeois said that there wasn't really much room for outdoor dining here and running the place with 25-percent indoor capacity at the time last fall wasn't going to cut it. 

We're curious to see what might be taking over this high-profile space...

(Thanks to Steven for the pics yesterday!)

Wrapping up the summer hawk season

Photo of the fledgling atop St Nicholas of Myra on Avenue A by Goggla 

Seems like it's officially time to say happy trails to Amelia and Christo's 2021 fledging... the young one was last seen around the Tompkins Square Park home base eight days ago.

Goggla has a nice summer hawk recap, with photos and observations, right here. As previously reported, two of Amelia and Christo's three offspring did not make it this year.

And you can find some EVG hawklet coverage here ... here and here. 

'We're still here' — charming video highlights the longtime relationship of Billy and Jane at Katinka

LimeLight is a new documentary series created by East Village-based photographer-filmmaker Josh Charow.

His first local pick is a classic: Katinka, the unique, closet-sized shop that opened in 1979 at 303 E. Ninth St. just east of Second Avenue. 

In the 4-plus minute video, proprietors Billy Lyles and Jane Williams discuss keeping their shop — full of handmade items from India — and their relationship going strong after all these years. (They've been together as a couple for 48 years.). 

Check it out below...

 

Construction watch: 650 E. 6th St.

Here's a progress report on the 6-story, 5-unit condoplex rising at 650 E. Sixth St. just west of Avenue C.

This project has been a long time in the making.

As New York Yimby noted in January 2016: "The 8,491-square-foot project will include 7,761 square feet of residential space, which means units will average 1,552 square feet apiece, indicative of condominiums."

The four-story apartment building that previously stood here was demolished in early 2018... two years after the condoplex plans were initially revealed. 

Combined Architecture has a rendering of the new building...

This will be the second new building in the corridor ... joining the one starting on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Avenue C.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• Report: Plans in the works to convert 650 E. 6th St. to condos