Friday, October 21, 2022
Slow burn
Last month, Preoccupations released Arrangements, the Canadian band's fourth record ... the video here is for "Slowly."
They'll be at Bowery Ballroom on Nov. 18.
Album release day for East Village singer-songwriter Jim Andralis
Photo from July by Stacie Joy
A quick update, as people asked us about it: His new LP, "I Can't Stop Trying," is out today. And you can catch him live at the Mercury Lounge on Nov. 6.
Revisit Stacie Joy's Q&A with Jim at this link.
Reminders: The Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Festival is tomorrow!
As previously noted: The 2022 version of the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade has a new name — and a familiar location.
The Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Festival takes place TOMORROW (Oct. 22) starting at 1 p.m. in Tompkins Square Park. Dan Schachner, a former NFL referee who now serves as host of the Puppy Bowl, is the host.
Alex Carpenter and Maegan Hayward of the East Village Vintage Collective interviewed organizer Joseph Borduin in this podcast for Jason Charles.net. Listen here.
The Dog Parade/Festival, which outgrew Tompkins Square Park, took place in East River Park in 2018, 2019 and 2021. (That venue is no longer available.) The 2020 pandemic version was mostly virtual, with a small in-person/dog event at Lucky on Avenue B.
Visit a Marble cemetery in the East Village this weekend
Photos by Steven
Both historic Marble cemeteries in the East Village are hosting open days this weekend. (Despite the similarities in name, there isn't any formal connection between the two cemeteries.)
• The New York Marble Cemetery (below), 43 1/2 Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street, is open tomorrow and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Find its history here. This space has been welcoming visitors on several weekends dating to April.
Steven also took in an aerial view of the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street...
Thursday, October 20, 2022
The Pyramid is closing once again
Photo from July 2021 by Stacie Joy
Updated 11/28
On Nov. 22, Nick Bodor (the Library, Cake Shop, etc.) shared with us his plans for Baker Falls at 101 Avenue A. The old Pyramid will also feature a collaboration with the Knitting Factory.
---
The second iteration of the Pyramid Club comes to an end on Oct. 31.
We've heard rumors from multiple sources about a pending closure this month here at 101 Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.
Pyramid management made it official with a late-night Instagram post:
After many glorious years of being part of the East Village community, we will be closing our doors at the end of the month after our final party.Thank you so very much to all of our new and longtime patrons and the promoters and DJs who have hosted events at The Pyramid Club. And a heartfelt thank you to The Pyramid Club team that has kept everything running smoothly and kept everyone safe. We are appreciative and grateful to all of you, your support means the world to us. We have loved serving the community and providing a space for all to be free and expressive through the arts, fashion, music and dance. The wonderful memories and friendships we have made will be cherished forever. Spread the love and keep on dancing...
A quick recap of what has happened here. The iconic East Village venue shuttered its doors in the spring of 2021 after 41 years in business, as we first reported. The club had been closed since March 7, 2020, at the onset of the pandemic.
However, the club made a comeback at the end of July 2021, opening on weekend nights in subsequent months.
As we understood it, the daughter of the longtime club owners, who are also the building's landlord, was running the show with a few familiar faces who previously worked at the venue.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Love Not Money is a new record store in Chinatown
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Love Not Money is a new record store and collectibles shop at 42 Eldridge St. between Hester and Canal in Chinatown.
You may recognize owner Joshua Gabriel, who previously ran City Fun on First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street...
While at City Fun, Gabriel started selling some used vinyl... and continued doing so as a pop-up business after moving on from the East Village shop.
Love Not Money debuted last weekend.
"I don't have much of a mission statement, to be honest, though my life has been music and art since I was 4 or 5," he said. "It's always been a dream of mine to open my own shop and immerse myself in both ... and I was given the opportunity to do just that. It's incredible and sometimes doesn't feel real."
The shop takes its name from the second Everything But the Girl record.
"It's so twee, so anti-establishment...inherently naive with a somewhat antagonistic purity of intent," Gabriel said. "It was an easy choice."
You can find new and used vinyl here ... as well as other music-related collectibles, such as T-shirts and pins ...
Love Not Money is also on the lookout for records... Gabriel said that he is always buying collections, large and small, and enjoys all kinds of music. (He started listing disco, punk, Latin, Afrobeat, new wave, reggae, hip-hop, pop, jazz, metal, R&B/soul, rock & roll, techno, folk, avant-garde...)
He said he will also happily look at music ephemera such as posters, music/graphic t-shirts, cassettes, old magazines/books/fanzines/band flyers, and stereo equipment.
"I'm very intent on everything I sell to be clean, functional, and in upstanding condition, and I pay well for quality," he said.
About the LES Arts & Culture Open House this weekend
From 2-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday afternoons, more than 20 organizations will host open houses and offer free programs welcoming people inside cultural spaces and "fostering more connections between neighborhood arts and culture groups and residents."
You can find a list of participating East Village and LES organizations here.
As the FABnyc organizers said: "Arts and culture groups were hit hard by mandatory COVID closures, which lasted nearly two years, and they are not fully back yet. The Open House is one element in FAB's efforts to sustain the vibrant and diverse culture of the LES."
Resurrection: Halloween Adventure is open on 4th Avenue
Photos by Steven
Yesterday's post about the pop-up Halloween shop on Avenue A prompted queries about two longtime businesses... Yes, Halloween Adventure is now open for the Halloween season on Fourth Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street. Gothic Renaissance has remained open next door beyond just this fall.
There was some speculation that last fall would be the last here for both shops.
As you may recall, back in January 2021, Halloween Adventure's owners announced it was closing due to a pandemic-related drop in business during 2020. After an effort to sell many gift cards, the shop was able to return for another Adventure last fall.
However, as The Real Deal reported in September 2021, the retail condo at 808 Broadway and 104-110 Fourth Ave. was for sale with a $15.95 million ask. The block-through property combines two adjacent buildings: 808 Broadway (completed in 1888) and 104-110 Fourth Ave. (circa 1981).
Per TRD:
After staving off closure for one more year, this season will be Halloween Adventure's last at its longtime East Village location.
However, they returned from the dead once again. It's not known what their plans are beyond this season. We didn't spot a listing online for the retail condo here.
Meanwhile, it's now business as Halloween usual...
The company that operates these two stores has been around since 1981, starting in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Halloween Adventure first arrived in the East Village with a pop-up in 1991 and continued to do this in various locations until 1996, when they found this current space.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Legends of the fall: Lucy
Photos by Gabby Fiorentino
From a recent night at Lucy's (aka Blanche's Lucy's Tavern), 135 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street ... with longtime proprietor Ludwika "Lucy" Mickevicius...
Reader report: A single-car crash on Clinton takes down a light pole
EVG reader Miriam Abrahams came across the scene shortly after the driver of the Volvo — for unknown reasons — veered into the bike lane and crashed into a light pole, which sent it to the sidewalk...
There was an initial report on the Citizen app that a person was "trapped underneath a pole after an auto-collision." There weren't any follow-up alerts.
It also appeared that the car slammed into a pile of trash bags before striking the pole.
A search of the car's license plate revealed a variety of recent traffic offenses...
As of 09:46:57 AM EDT on October 19, 2022:
— How's My Driving NY (@HowsMyDrivingNY) October 19, 2022
Violations by year for #NY_KPT3966:
2 | 2021
9 | 2022
As of 09:46:57 AM EDT on October 19, 2022:
— How's My Driving NY (@HowsMyDrivingNY) October 19, 2022
Known fines for #NY_KPT3966:
$1,410.33 | Fined
$1.37 | Reduced
$1,408.96 | Paid
$0.00 | Outstanding
The Halloween Pop-Up Store pops up on Avenue A
Photos by Stacie Joy
A pop-up shop for the Halloween season is now open at 70 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street (in the vacant storefront between Cafe Social 68 and Mast).
This is the second year here for the shop, run again by some local entrepreneurs.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy paid a visit the other day...
There are some discounts here: 10% off for students, and 10% off for all EV residents with ID. The shop is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 31.
And while Stacie was there, workers opened up a package intended for a shop in South Carolina... in case you needed a child-size costume of a Confederate officer...
A familiar new owner for the development site at 280 E. Houston St.
The development site at 280 E. Houston St. has a new owner who's familiar to residents of the Lower East Side.
As The Real Deal first reported, landlord Samy Mahfar, whose descriptions in the press often include the words "notorious" or "oft-embattled," and investors picked up the property from members of the Hirsch family for $36.8 million.
In January, we had the scoop on this new building when the permit for a 68,000-square-foot residential building with 67 units first arrived here between Avenue A and Avenue B. However, as you'll read ahead, the complex will likely end up much larger than this...
Per TRD:
The Hirsch family obtained demolition permits and did enough foundation work to qualify the site for the 421a property tax abatement before it expired in June...
And...
The apartment building and retail space [the former Red Square at 250 E. Houston St.] were partially sold in 2016 to a group led by Dermot Company in a condominium structure, with the family entities retaining a percentage. When the site was later upzoned to R8-A, which permitted bonus floor area for voluntary inclusionary housing, it added roughly 65,000 square feet as-of-right to any project, which would nearly double to 127,000 square feet if it qualified for 421a.
So we'll see where No. 280 ultimately ends up. Last fall, workers demolished the one-level strip of storefronts (Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins, Subway, China Town restaurant, etc.) adjacent to the 13-floor residential building at No. 250. Qualified projects under the 421a designation must be completed by June 15, 2026, to receive the incentive, per TRD.
In 2017, a years-long investigation into Mahfar "uncovered harassment tactics, dangerous living conditions and failure to provide heat and hot water," according to DNAinfo at the time. He reached a $225,000 settlement with then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
At 102 Norfolk St., dust covering the building's stairs was found to contain as high as 40,000 micrograms per square foot and 110,000 micrograms per square foot of lead, according to the settlement agreement. The limit for lead concentration on floors per the city's health code is 40 micrograms per square foot.
Mahfar also owns the newish 14-floor residential complex across the street at 255 E. Houston St./171 Suffolk St.
He also recently unloaded several of his multifamily properties on the LES (99 Allen St., 177 Ludlow St. and 102 Norfolk St.).
For rent: space ideal for a gallery on 6th Street
The last tenant, 3A gallery, recently relocated down to Canal Street.
Per a co-op rep: "We'd really like someone with roots in the neighborhood and ideally tenant related to the arts. The space is ideal for a gallery."
You can find the link to the listing here.
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
This is no dream. This is really happening!
And the headline reference from the film.
The 3rd annual Mask-Querade taking place on 7th Street this Oct. 30
East Village restaurateur Ravi DeRossi's Overthrow Hospitality group is once again hosting a Trick-or-Treat Halloween festival for children ages 12 and under on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
The third-annual event takes place on Oct. 30 from 1-3 p.m.
Details via the EVG inbox...
Come join the East Village for an afternoon of fun-filled trick-or-treating! Now in its third year, Overthrow Hospitality's Maskquerade offers an afternoon of trick-or-treating to over 1,000 neighborhood children — plus treats for adults, bag-decorating stations and more.Hosted on Seventh Street, Overthrow Hospitality transforms the open street into a Halloween scene with the help of a 12-foot skeleton, lifesize dragon, cobwebs galore and more.
Overthrow has five establishments on this block of Seventh Street: Cadence, Ladybird, the Fragile Flour, Rabbit and Avant Garden.
Unveiling Donald Suggs Jr. Way on 6th Street and Avenue B
Photos by Stacie Joy
On Saturday morning, friends and family of Donald Suggs Jr. came together for a street co-naming ceremony in his honor ... on the SW corner of Sixth Street and Avenue B — now also known as Donald Suggs Jr. Way.
Suggs, a longtime resident of Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, died in October 2012 of a heart attack. He was 51.
Gabriella Sonam, project coordinator for The Donald Suggs Jr. Street Naming Project and neighbor, speaks about Donald's impact on the neighborhood and NYC...
Guests included his son, Dr. Luis Ramirez...
... Donald’s two sisters and his niece hold the commemorative duplicate sign after program remarks and the street sign unveiling (from the left): Delali Suggs-Akaffu (niece), Dina Suggs and Dawn Suggs... 
Suggs also worked at Exit9 on Avenue A... owners Charles Branstool and Christy Davis were in attendance for the ceremony...
Nancy Jo Sales (right) and her daughter Zazie were close to Donald and embrace as they admire the street sign in his honor and think about their friend...
Here's more about him via the advisory for the street co-naming ceremony:
Donald lived his life as a tireless activist for justice, a courageous advocate for the lives of people in HIV-affected communities, a critical thinker, a consequential writer, an incisive editor for The Village Voice and an international media activist based in the East Village.
He was wise, kind, generous, funny, brilliant, creative, honorable, and out of the closet — back when it was risky to be out. Donald was our good neighbor on East 6th Street.
You can read more about his life and work in this EVG post.
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