Neighbors curious about what might be next for the NE corner of Avenue A and 13th Street

Some EVG readers have noted recent activity inside and out at the former Percy's Tavern on the northeast corner of Avenue A and 13th Street... work includes a new curbside dining structure...

Where we left off here... back in December 2019, the Pizza Cowboy reported that Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports was teaming up with pizza personality Nino Coniglio (of Brooklyn Pizza Crew and Williamsburg Pizza) on a bar pie pizzeria.

Not sure if that's still moving forward here. 

According to the State Liquor Authority, the liquor license is inactive here. The names of Larry Watson, who opened Percy's in 2010, and James Morrissey, who is involved with The Late Late and VNYL, are on the license.

In September of 2017, Community Board 3 did not approve Morrissey's application to open Honey Fitz at this address. 

A neighbor says that contractors have been working almost daily on interior renovations, adding a stage in the front half of the space on the 13th Street side and installing six TV sets, among other things. 

So with all those monitors and a stage (live music? comedy?), there's a sports bar/entertainment vibe here, but so far, nothing definitive. And no sign of future Community Board notices for a new liquor license.

Percy's quietly closed here in 2017.

H/T Sonya and dwg

Wingstop joining Gorillas and European Wax Center in this retail space on 14th Street

On Aug. 2, we reported that Gorillas, the on-demand grocery delivery startup, and a European Wax Center were the new retail tenants in the renovated storefronts along 428 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Avenue A. 

In reporting on this on Thursday, the Commercial Observer had info about a third tenant here: Wingstop, the aviation-themed chain specializing in chicken wings, signed a 10-year lease for 1,700 square feet of space. 

There are currently more than a dozen Wingstop outposts in the NYC metropolitan area. The 14th Street location hasn't turned up yet on Wingstop coming-soon list.

No. 428 has been undergoing a gut renovation ... the previous retail tenants were victims of the L-train work along this corridor. 

How about some more Smoke & Beer?

Signage (for another) Smoke & Beer shop is up now at 110 Third Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street. (Thanks Jeanne Krier for the pic!) 

It seeeems like there are a lot of these Smoke & Beer shops around...

Anyway, this one takes over for another ubiquitous business — a bubble tea shop, specifically One Zo, which closed at some point early this summer.

Sunday's parting shot

Hello from Avenue A today. 

Photo by Derek Berg.

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!

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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.")