Yuca Bar remains closed for renovations

Photos by Steven

The renovation of Yuca Bar on the NW corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A is taking longer than expected. The signage originally stated a closure until Jan. 25.

However, there is work left to complete...

Yuca's Instagram account now lists a February reopening.

The restaurant offering Latin cuisine and weekend brunches closed for the renovations on Jan. 2.

Dunkin' shutters on Cooper Square

After 10 years of dispensing doughnuts and coffee, the Dunkin' outpost at 67 Cooper Square has closed. 

A for-lease sign now hangs in the front window here between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Workers cleared out the space last week.

Apparently, the 10-year lease was up. The brand arrived here in the summer of 2014, the new tenant after Norman's Sound & Vision decamped to Williamsburg. 

Dunkin' was always a nice alternative to chains like Blank City Coffee.

Today in vibrating severed hands

An EVG reader shared this photo from outside the vacant lot — the site of the former 123 Second Ave. — between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. 

Per the reader: "The hand is connected to some sort of wire so the hand is vibrating."

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a Tuesday sunrise shot by Jeanne Krier)... 

• Reports: Man slashed after asking man to stop urinating on car along 14th Street at 1st Avenue (Tuesday) ... Police seek information in 'attempted murder' after Sunday's slashing on 14th Street (Saturday) 

• Why we may have seen the last of longtime East Village bar Lucy's (Monday) ... Fan signage for Lucy's (Tuesday) 

• Tompkins Square Park remains without restrooms for public use (Monday) 

• Signage alert: Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• Today in urban etiquette notes on 7th Street about dogs shitting in tree planters (Thursday)

• At last, a sidewalk bridge along 280 E. Houston St., site of a new 12-story building (Tuesday) 

• Apple Bank is branching out — and away — from 2nd Avenue (Monday) 

• Photos: Tetchy headlines the Knitting Factory at Baker Falls on Avenue A (Thursday) 

• A look inside Iglesia Pentecostal El Divino Maestro on 3rd Street (Friday)

• Fans of El Primo Red Tacos can soon pig out at Tacos El Porky (Wednesday) 

• Today in discarded deer taxidermy mounts on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday) 

• Chicken & the Egg closes; taqueria in the works for the space (Wednesday) 

• Kestrel-eye view of Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday)

The piebald squirrel of Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven 

In recent months, there have been sightings of a squirrel with a dappled mix of white, brown and grey —or maybe you see blue and black. (Jeremiah Moss first shared an image of the squirrel on Instagram in late December). 

 

We don't recall seeing it before then... what's known as a piebald squirrel... Steven took these photos yesterday...

Per AZ Animals: "White squirrels are a genetic rarity caused by either albinism or leucism. Although there are over two million Eastern grey squirrels in North America, piebald — also known as pied or leucistic — squirrels make up a small fraction of the total squirrel population." 

The site says that if you see one, "then you can consider yourself lucky."

Saturday's parting shots

Photos by William Klayer 

The latest Sonny Angel drop drew a crowd today at an.mé, Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Kids love them, and so do older kids. A look into the craze here. 

Sonny Angel, a line of miniature dolls created by a Japanese toy manufacturer and inspired by the cartoon character, Kewpie, has experienced a boom in popularity in the last few years alone (the brand first graced the market in the early 2000s).

Police seek information in 'attempted murder' after Sunday's slashing on 14th Street

The NYPD has placed reward posters along 14th Street for information related to the slashing outside the Immaculate Conception Church this past Sunday evening. 

According to police and media reports, the victim, John Mach, who works as a caretaker at the church just east of First Avenue, was slashed in the neck with a razor blade after trying to stop a man from urinating between cars. 

The suspect was also reportedly going to urinate on the church wall. The two men got into an argument. The unidentified suspect returned just after 5 and slashed Mach along his jawline to behind his left ear as he helped a wheelchair user enter the church, according to the reports. 

Mach needed 16 stitches to close the gash on his neck. (He talked with ABC 7 here.) 

Police are offering up to $3,500 for information about the suspect, who is apparently known in the area. Anyone with information about the incident — which the police are calling "attempted murder" — can contact the NYPD through the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). 

According to The Tablet, Mach was back at work the day after the slashing.

The first opossum sighting of 2024 in Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to EVG reader Richard for this up-close shot from yesterday in Tompkins Square Park. 

There have been opossum sightings through the years in the Park (hence its own EVG opossum tag).

And now some facts about these members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia:

Opossums' diet includes all types of bugs and insects, including cockroaches, crickets, and beetles. They also eat mice and rats. Nocturnal opossums are attracted to neighborhoods by the availability of water, pet food left out at night, and overripe, rotting fruit.

Odd that opossums would be attracted to this neighborhood — as we have none of these things!

Saturday's opening shot

An early morning Porky drop for Key Food on Avenue A at Fourth Street...

Just like 'Honey'

 

The Toronto-based PACKS has released its third release, Melt the Honey, one of the best records so far in 1994 2024! 

The video here features the indie-rock goodness of "Honey." 

Catch PACKS out at Baby's All Right this May 3.

A look inside Iglesia Pentecostal El Divino Maestro on 3rd Street

Photos and text by Stacie Joy 

I recently saw the front gates open at Iglesia Pentecostal El Divino Maestro, one of the many congregations on East Village side streets. 

A caretaker invited me inside the church here at 250 E. Third St, between Avenue B and Avenue C...

Part of the building's roots is still on display heading into the sanctuary...

Here's some history of the building via Village Preservation... 

In 1946, a new building permit was filed to construct a Jewish synagogue on this site. The synagogue was owned by Congregation Beth Hakneseth Anshel Mieletz. 

The building is currently owned by a Christian church, Iglesia Pentecostal. The conversion of the synagogue into a church occurred prior to the time a 1980s tax photo was taken, but there is no record of its exact year. 

We're told that there's a small congregation today...

Services are on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.) and worship on Sunday mornings at 10, but doors open at 9:15 a.m. Services are in Spanish only by El Divino Maestro Rev. Julio Calcaño.

Photos: Tetchy headlines the Knitting Factory at Baker Falls on Avenue A

Photos by The Hella Sketchy 

Last Thursday night, Knitting Factory at Baker Falls on Avenue A played host to a Tetchy EP release show.

The Brooklyn-based band — guitarist-vocalist Maggie Denning, guitarist Jesse French, bassist Kaitlin Pelkey, and drummer Max Goldstein — has unleased its latest collection of empowering punk, All In My Head, via Trash Casual.

Here are a few scenes from the band's headlining performance...

You can keep tabs on Tetchy via Instagram. Look for their video for "Psychosomatic" tomorrow... and expect to hear more from the band in 2024, including dates at SXSW... 

Today in urban etiquette notes on 7th Street about dogs shitting in tree planters

An urban etiquette note from Seventh Street. (Thank you, East Village Neighbor, for the photo!) 

And the message, with an attention-grabbing salutation: 

Dear Neighbor Who Let His Dog Shit in Our Tree Planter, 

You waited until no one was looking, but we saw you and took a photo — busted! The EV has a website for people who rudely don't clean up after their dogs, congrats! You're on it. Have some courtesy for others. 

P.S. Invest in some poop bags.

P.S.

East Village Neighbor asks, Is there actually a dog poop non-picker-upper website in the EV???

Wednesday's parting shot

A forlorn look at the now-closed New Yorkers Foodmarket at 107 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

The grocery shut down at the end of 2023. Read more about that here. 

Thanks to longtime East Village resident Dana Della Valle for the photo.

Kestrel-eye view of Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to EVG reader Jeremy Schipper for this photo by Tompkins Square Park...

(And one more fire-escape shot and we will have a trends piece!)

Fans of El Primo Red Tacos can soon pig out at Tacos El Porky

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

There's a changing of the taco guard at 151 Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

After four months in business, the Miami-based El Primo Red Tacos will change over to its sister restaurant, Tacos El Porky, in the coming weeks. 

We hadn't seen El Primo open lately. Management confirmed the El Porky switcheroo in an Instagram message.

The new quick-serve establishment specializes in tacos al pastor. You can find their menu here.

El Primo Red Tacos, with its birria tacos, debuted on Sept. 7.

Chicken & the Egg closes; taqueria in the works for the space

Chicken & the Egg has closed at 221 Second Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street. 

Signage notes the new business coming soon: Dear Rufino Taqueria...

We're not sure who's behind the new establishment... and if the closure also impacts Sincerely, Ophelia, the speakeasy in the back. 

The fried chicken sandwich restaurant-speakeasy combo opened in August 2022.

Today in discarded deer taxidermy mounts on 2nd Avenue

As seen this evening on Second Avenue and Seventh Street. Per EVG reader Samir Randeria, who shared the photo: "Saw two guys pick it up together and take it further east ... with great excitement."

Fan signage for Lucy's

Upon reading about the latest developments at Lucy's (aka Blanche's Lucy's Tavern), 135 Avenue A, EVG regular Lola Sáenz created this handpainted signage.

As first reported yesterday, someone painted over the Lucy's signage at the bar between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. Worse, though, the building recently sold, and the new landlord wants a rent increase that Lucy can't afford. Read more here.

Updated 5:30 p.m.: Stacie Joy reports someone already removed Lola's sign.

At last a sidewalk bridge along 280 E. Houston St., site of a new 12-story building

Photos by Salim 

The site of an incoming 12-story residential building has reached the next phase at 280 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. 

Workers have finally erected a sidewalk bridge to keep pedestrians safe(r). In the previous iteration, pedestrians and various cyclists (e-bikes, scooters, etc.) had to share the roadway.

However, in creating the new walkway, workers entombed this tree near Avenue B in concrete ... might as well just chop it down now ...

To recap: The new development will contain 224,809 square feet of space — for residential, commercial and community use. The residential portion will total 211,028 square feet for 157 apartments, per DOB records. The retail section will feature 12,000 square feet, while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.