Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on St. Mark's Place by Derek Berg) ...

• Lancelotti Housewares is closing on Avenue A (Friday) 

• Ergot Records opens on 2nd Street (Friday) 

• Hamilton Fish Recreation Center returns with free annual membership offer (Monday) 

• East Side Coastal Resiliency work closes part of Stuyvesant Cove Park until 2023 (Monday) 

• Ruffian set for expansion on 7th Street (Thursday) 

• Kitchen Sink goes Greek, emerges as Eros (Monday) 

• Eco-friendly A Sustainable Village opens on 9th Street (Wednesday) 

• At the 50th anniversary of Albert's Garden on 2nd Street (Tuesday) 

• Reports: Police arrest suspect in a string of groping attacks, including 3 in the East Village (Monday) 

• The Main Event set for Avenue B (Wednesday) 

• Spotting a Spotted Lanternfly, kill! kill! (Wednesday) 

• Brown paper on the windows at the former Odessa on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• Green Garden Buffet closes on 9th Street (Thursday)

• Report: Jeepney closing after 9 years on 1st Avenue (Tuesday) 

• Renovations appear complete at McKinley Playground (Thursday) 

• Stromboli and Dan & John's remain closed (Friday) 

• New Indian restaurant in the works for this stretch of 2nd Avenue (Tuesday) 

• Speed bumps arrive on some side streets (Wednesday) 

• Any signs of the East Village in the 1st trailer for Marvel's 'Hawkeye' series? (Monday) 

• Village Voices, a new street exhibit, recognizes trailblazing neighborhood icons (Tuesday) 

• Dig Inn apparently still has plans to reopen on 4th Avenue (Monday) 

• Raising the barre: Pure Barre opening a studio at 250 E. Houston St. (Tuesday)

And a reader mentioned this in the comments the other day... the Cosmo's outpost on First Avenue between St. Mark's and Ninth Street is closed for a gas-related issue ... the Cosmo's at 121 First Ave. is open...

Thanks to Steven for the Cosmo's pics!

---

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

Howl Arts debuts new exhibition space on the Bowery

Howl Arts is ready to debut a second space, a 7,000 square-foot facility at 250 Bowery between Houston and Stanton. (Howl! Happening, which opened in 2015 at 6 E. First St., will remain in use as a gallery.) 

The new space is going by Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive (HA/HA), which "expands upon Howl! Happening's innovative exhibitions and public programs and focuses on the thriving multi-dimensional artistry and history of the East Village/Lower East Side." 

It will also serve as the headquarters for Howl Arts, which purchased the commercial space here in 2018.

Here's more via the Howl press announcement:

By the community, for the community, HA/HA will be activated with three exhibition galleries, as well as a library, screening and reading rooms, a chef's kitchen, and an outdoor terrace for special events. 

Energized by the creative and disruptive spirit of the 60s, 70s, and 80s on the Lower East Side ... HA/HA expands Howl's programming capabilities and aims to advance Howl Arts' mission to preserve and showcase the legacy of often overlooked underground and experimental cultures of the East Village and downtown neighborhoods. 

"We've been fighting against gentrification in the East Village for decades," says Howl executive director Jane Friedman. 

Howl's Permanent Collection, to be showcased at HA/HA, comprises over 3,000 objects, including art, rare digital and analog media, performance-art ephemera, and personal archives from the 1960s onward. 

The collection documents the origins and growth of local cultural and social movements that have had far-reaching impact — offering a myriad of opportunities for new interpretations of the punk, new-wave, and no-wave movements; performance art; drag; street art; public-access television; nightlife; LGBTQ activism; the AIDS epidemic; and urban gentrification.

And the inaugural exhibition opens today (Sept. 19) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.:

"Icons, Iconoclasts, and Outsiders" presents works by artists, writers, musicians, scenesters, performers, icons, iconoclasts, outsiders and other creators from the 1960s to the present whose life and work energized the underground and are now entering mainstream cultural discourse.

Selected works on display include Arturo Vega, Brian Butterick, Richard Hambleton, Helen Oliver Adelson, Marcia Resnick and Scooter LaForge, among many others. 

The exhibit is up through Oct. 31. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This main-floor and lower-level space at 250 Bowery was previously the International Center of Photography, which moved to a new home on Broome Street. The Howl HQ is on the upper floors.

Seinfeld's terrifying new look on 2nd Street

The Seinfeld wheatpaste — created by @Sacsix — has been on the wall here on Second Street at First Avenue for five-plus years (outside Spiegel, the cafe which is reopening one of these days).

So you might expect some wear and tear... but the resulting eye lift is giving off (friendlier) Michael Myers vibes...

... though it is getting close(r) to Halloween.

Saturday's parting shot

A "Hamlet"-esque moment on Avenue A today via Derek Berg...

An unhappy return on 1st Avenue and 7th Street

From the inbox... workers are digging up the west side of First Avenue at Seventh Street this afternoon... this is about six weeks after crews finished extensive water main work here.

Not sure at the moment why the city needed to tear up this stretch once again. (OK — so why wouldn't they need to?)

As previously reported, there were back-to-back breaks here in late December. The multiple ruptures sent water rushing into businesses and residences along Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A. 

Neighbors talked about an all-consuming noise, both during the day when the work crew was on the scene and after-hours when cars and trucks would pass over the multiple metal plates on the roadway. 

Green days: A paint job for the iconic Astor Place subway entrance

On Thursday night, MTA workers were spotted painting the northbound 6 entrance on Astor Place. (Thanks to @adammash for the pic & tip!) 

Here's a look at the finished exterior (it appears workers are doing the inside portion next)...

The landmarked station opened here in 1904 (EVG was first to report on this, though the New York World claimed an exclusive). 

Here's a little more history via Wikipedia, which basically picked this up from the National Register of Historic Places: 

The structure is an imitation of the IRT's original entrance and exit kiosks, extremely ornate structures made of cast iron and glass. The IRT kiosks were inspired by those on the Budapest Metro, which themselves were inspired by ornate summer houses called "kushks." 

The Astor Place entrance is a reproduction installed in the 1980s and was made at the same factory as the originals. The replica was largely based on photographs by renovating architect Rolf Ohlhausen. Like the original entrance kiosks, it has a domed roof with cast-iron shingles."

New deli alert: Sweet Village Marketplace shapes up on 1st Avenue

Workers yesterday were installing kitchen venting on the side of 147 First Ave. at Ninth Street. 

EVG correspondent Steven just missed the money shot of the workers hoisting up the parts. When asked, the workers did not want to take everything down and start over for the photo, for some reason. 

ICMYI... as we buried in a post on July 27, this space will become a deli going by the name Sweet Village Marketplace. (That info via Upper West Sider!) 

We don't know anything else about the business at the moment. (Other than that they will need a vent for cooking.) Given the size of the space, it may offer more quick-serve food items like the former St. Mark's Market.

This space has been empty since the Bean left here in November 2019. 

H/T to Lola Sáenz for sharing some vent pics too!

A very special homecoming tomorrow in Sara D. Roosevelt Park

Local photographer and filmmaker Manon Macasaet premieres episode No. 4 of her freewheeling reality series, "Story of My Fucking Life," tomorrow in a late-afternoon event dubbed Homecoming 2021 in Sara D. Roosevelt Park (specifically the Grand Street basketball courts). 

From 4-8 p.m., you can take in an array of entertainment ... with the main even being a basketball game. 

And catch up on the first three 15-minute episodes of the series here on YouTube. (Recommended: Episode 2 — "Promkins and the Clock of Doom.")

Details on the annual fundraiser tomorrow for El Sol Brillante

If you're looking for something to do tomorrow between noon and moon, consider the annual fundraising day at El Sol Brillante, the community garden on 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

This is the first garden party here since 2019. Attendees can expect to find live music, food, art, plants and more... and all proceeds go toward the maintenance of this much-welcomed green space. 

Like a 'Rollin Stone'

 

Little Simz, the UK-based rapper, released her fourth record, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, at the beginning of the month. 

The video (flash warning!) is for "Rollin Stone."

The happy little sinkhole on 1st Avenue

It's gonna be a bright (bright) Bright (bright) sunshiny sinkhole day ...

Goggla points out this sunshiny sinkhole that is under development here on First Avenue at Fifth Street ... will likely stay this way unless it tries to swallow an NYPD vehicle making the turn here to the 9th Precinct midblock on Fifth Street.

H/T Johnny Nash

Lancelotti Housewares is closing on Avenue A

After a 25-year presence on Avenue A, Lancelotti Housewares is closing its doors this fall. 

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy reports that co-owners Michael Isaacs (below left) and Jeff Chatterton are moving to Dallas to be closer to family, and plans are in the works to open a similar concept/new home-goods store there. 

The couple just closed on their dream home, but they will miss NYC, they said...

The two bought the store from Linda Heidinger, who launched the business in 1996, five years ago. (Isaacs had worked several years at Lancelotti and at Alphabets, Heidinger's other store.) 

Isaacs and Chatterton expanded their retail space with a carefully curated selection of home goods here at 66 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street in 2018.

The closing sales begin today when Lancelotti opens at noon ...

Lancelotti's last day is expected to be mid-to-late October...

You can find updates on the shop's Instagram account. Lancelotti is open Tuesday-Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Lancelotti, always a reliable spot to pick up a gift, will be missed.

Updated 2:30 p.m. 

Closing signage is up... and everything is 30 percent off in the store...