Bella McFadden bringing her iGirl brand to the East Village

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

An online vintage clothing sensation is making the East Village home to her first storefront. 

Bella McFadden, aka Internet Girl, will open her shop later this spring at 150 E. Third St. just east of Avenue A (the former home of East Village Buyers, who moved to the avenue). 

Starting in her teens, McFadden, now 28, was an avid thrifter and eventually became the first-ever seller to earn more than $1 million on the Depop app. She later launched her own website for her iGirl brand, "inspired by Y2K emo culture, mall goths and punk subculture." 

This past September, McFadden, originally from Canada, moved to the East Village. She only looked to open a store in her new neighborhood, noting the space was in her budget. She signed an 18-month lease.

"It's my first time with a storefront, so I wanted to test the waters and not sign a long-term lease," McFadden said.

The store will also be called iGirl, selling McFadden's designs, jewelry, and apparel for her target audience, which includes "high school and college fans, teens to early 30s." McFadden, who has a sizable social media following (TikTok, YouTube, et al.), also plans to drop a few exclusive designs that are only available in-store and not online. 

She hopes to open by the end of April or early May. 

"I feel this is a really safe space for a Tumblr girl," said McFadden, who started using the platform in the 10th grade. "My haven and my roots, a place for those girls to connect and unite."

You can find updates on iGirl via Instagram.

Peak-a-boooo: Partial reveal at 1 St. Mark's Place

The 9-story office building on the NE corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place is showing off a hint of brick and glass. 

The new development at 1 St. Mark's Place has been shrouded in that tarp in recent months.

Perhaps we shall see the full thing soon — the rendering lists a July 2024 completion date, providing 50,000-plus square feet of office space and some 8,000 square feet for retail.

As a reminder of the final product... (via Morris Adjmi Architects)... 

Openings: Sauced on 2nd Avenue

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The Manhattan outpost of Sauced is now in soft-open mode at 47 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street. (Don't be confused: the front window still has the previous tenant's name, New York Adorned, the tattoo and piercing shop.) 

Like the original location in Williamsburg, Sauced does not have a wine list ... and they are available "by discussion." ...

Co-owner Vincent Marino provided a brief tour of the space, including a backroom available for private events...

He introduced me to chef Quentin Peron, who oversees a small, ever-changing menu of small plates. (On this visit, they served mushroom pate, a bellota plate, and a cheese/charcuterie board, among other items.)

Hours: 

Monday-Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight 

Friday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Saturday, 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Sunday, 3 p.m. to midnight. 

You can find updates on the Sauced Instagram account. 

And Sauced will eventually have a new next-door neighbor once the Boiler Room moves here from Fourth Street.

Openings: Terminal B on Avenue B

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Terminal B is now in soft-open mode at 21-23 Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street. 

We had seen the signage but weren't sure what to expect from the LaGuardia Airport-sounding name. It turns out that Terminal B is a convenience store with Asian-themed products...

Pictured here are staffers Angel Chow and Edward Wong. (Owner Judy Zhu had stepped out...)

They'll eventually offer some to-go items, including coffee, tea and matcha.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Noted

Photo last night by Stacie Joy 

A noticeable absence on Fifth Street — workers removed the sidewalk bridge from outside the 9th Precinct between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

It has been there since... late 2019? 2020? 

However, we heard a new one may be back here with a new contract/company. So enjoy while you can!

Thanks to all the readers who shared photos of this!

These zine editors want your rat stories ('Don't call us gross')

Photo and interview by Stacie Joy

Signs around the neighborhood started appearing over the weekend, seeking stories about memorable encounters with rats in NYC. 

A rat zine? 

Curious, I contacted the folks behind the flyers. The two friends, a current and past (now in Williamsburg) East Village resident, wish to remain anonymous for now but agreed to discuss the project.  

So, how did this rat zine project get started? 

The project was born from a deep fascination with — and admiration for — New York City's most hated inhabitants. Independently, we both had spent the last few years taking photos of dead rats crushed into the city's pavement. After discovering this shared hobby recently, we decided to make a zine. 

In the process of doing that, we decided it'd be fun to supplement our images with true stories of rat encounters sourced from our neighbors. Over the last few days, we've been putting up flyers asking for submissions. Emails started flowing in immediately, both harrowing and kind of touching. People stopped us on the street to tell us about their favorite rat interactions, which is a cool way to meet strangers.

Why make a rat zine? 

Not to be too high-minded about a rat zine, but it really feels like the city is just teeming with untold rodent stories. Living in close proximity to these animals, who are nearly indomitable and cunning and heavily dependent on our inability to clean up after ourselves, is a big part of the collective New York experience. 

The inter-species arrangement is that we generally aim to avoid each other. When that social order breaks down, a good story often follows.

How can people get involved? What sort of material are you looking for? 

Anyone interested in sharing a particularly memorable rat episode should send us an email in the next few weeks. We like straightforward stories, but we're also open to other formats — if you're moved to translate your rat tale into a haiku, an illustration or a short play, by all means, go ahead. 

It's fun, and it's not gross. Don’t call us gross. Tell us your best rat stories!

-----

Want to contribute? Send your rodent-related comics, poems, true stories, and songs to newyorkrathole (newyorkrathole@gmail.com). It's old-school print media only: signs and a printed zine. There is no social media, although they concede there "may be an Instagram in the future."

Another pink-out at 57 Great Jones St.

Photos by Lola Sáenz 

Once again, someone slapped the exterior of 57 Great Jones St. with pink paint and once again rolled out the commemorative plaque for one-time resident Jean-Michel Basquiat...

This happened late last summer here between the Bowery and Lafayette. (We've been told the person who did this is obsessed with Basquiat, who lived and worked in the building once owned by Andy Warhol from 1983 to his death in 1988.)

Angelina Jolie opened Atelier Jolie here late last year... the space includes a cafe operated by Eat Offbeat featuring food "from around the world made by refugee chefs in NYC." (Try the baklava!)

East Village Tattoo debuts on 4th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

East Village Tattoo debuted at 207 E. Fourth St. this past weekend between Avenue A and Avenue B...

I stopped by and met owner Alex Salinger ...

Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 1-8 p.m., with a 9 p.m. close on Friday and Saturday. (Walk-ins welcome, btw.)

You can follow the shop on Instagram here for updates and info on their artists.

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

Girl Scout Cookie sales early this evening outside Village View along Fourth Street... and 10 boxes of Toffee-tastic®, please...

Spring calling

On the clock for spring... and some views of Tompkins Square Park courtesy of @davidterranova ...

And nevermind that it was 33 degrees this morning...

The 9th Precinct's Sector A NCOs are hosting a Build the Block meeting tomorrow afternoon

The 9th Precinct is hosting a Sector Safety Summit tomorrow (March 20) afternoon for East Village residents and business owners — this time for those who live in Sector A. 

This Sector encompasses the east side of Avenue C from East 14th Street to Houston ... and Seventh Street from Avenue C to First Avenue back down to Houston.

The meeting is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Republic Community Center, 888 E. Sixth St. near Avenue D.

As for these Sector meetings: "This is an avenue for you to voice your grievances or concerns with issues in and around the neighborhood."

This is part of the NYPD's Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCO) initiative. The 9th Precinct is split into four sectors, with two officers assigned to each sector. Find a list of the 9th Precinct's NCOs here. 

This spring, new life for the mucky tree well that smells like dead things on Avenue A

Prologue 

Text and photos by EVG

Since last summer, the tree well on Avenue A just south of Sixth Street has been a mucky cesspool of stagnant water, soggy bread, and other snacks for pigeons adjacent to the block-long Con Edison substation. 

On warm days, when the winds are just right, you can smell the fragrant pit nearly a block away — an aroma that smells like decaying rodents, sewer water, and stale bread.

Despite the muck, life found a way last summer ... 

On Dec. 31, we noticed something remarkable: someone had tilled the plot, turning the earth and providing hope. And after the most recent MulchFest in Tompkins Square Park in January, someone even put down a fresh bed of chips. 

We've never seen anyone drop off the pigeon smorgasbord, but we haven't spotted the person (or people?) tending to the plot either. 

Until last week. 

Hope Springs Eternal

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Last week, you may have noticed that someone had been giving the mucky tree well some TLC. I spotted East Village artist Siobhan Meow working here with a shovel and asked her about the project. 

"I decided to adopt a tree well!" she said. 

She has named it the Noel Reed Memorial Tree Pit after her friend Noel Reed, aka Leon Deer, aka Mr. Twilight, "who died much too young." He was a dancer with the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and worked for Con Edison as a welder. 

"I noticed last summer that this amazing cornstalk is growing here. Just the one cornstalk. And then when it was gone, it smelled so bad here in the summer," she said. "All the pigeons…there was so much pigeon guano, which is really good for plants."

Carrying a shovel from her garden, she said, "I turned it over, added some compost from my rooftop garden, some soil from an abandoned outdoor restaurant shack planter, and then a layer of Christmas tree shavings, mulch from the park." 

What does she see for the tree pit? "Shrubs only. Nothing over 12 feet tall. I'd love to see a pussy willow in there. But don't feel too precious about what you put in it. It needs earthworms, too. Nightcrawlers. The best worms."

She's putting out an open call for plants, hoping someone will donate roses or shrubbery. "I don't want to be too controlling," she said

She plans to maintain the pit to be more "civically conscious and to get some exercise."

Epilogue

The Lazy Llama has closed in First Park; no new vendor in the pipeline

ICYMI: The Lazy Llama is no longer running the snack bar in First Park here between First Street and Houston adjacent to the First Avenue F stop...

The coffee shop, which has a cafe across the way at 72 E. First St., between First Avenue and Second Avenue, had operated from the kiosk since July 2021.

The Parks Department issued a Request for Proposal last July for "the renovation, operation, and maintenance" of the snack bar. The lease for the space expires in April.

However, don't expect a new tenant anytime soon. A Parks spokesperson told us this yesterday: "We did not receive any proposals for First Park in the East Village. Parks is exploring all options for the kiosk, including reissuing the RFP."

Previous local businesses at the kiosk include S'MAC and Mudspot Café.

In other Lazy Llama-related news, their sister business, Gemina Coffee Shop, opened this past November at 424 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. EVG readers have said nice things about the place. 

Openings: Okiboru House of Udon on 2nd Avenue

Photo by Steven

Okiboru House of Udon debuts today at 124 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. (First mentioned here.)

The restaurant from the owners of House of Tsukemen on Orchard Street will specialize in house-made Himokawa udon noodles, served with a hot or cold dipping sauce and applewood-smoked bacon tempura.

Hours: 4-10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. If you're on Instagram, you can follow them here.

Okiboru House of Udon takes over the space from Mochinut, which closed last summer. 

Noted

Over the weekend, workers removed the curbside dining structures that lined Brooklyn Dumpling Shop's St. Mark's Place and First Avenue sides. (H/T MP!)

Several EVG readers had complained about this lengthy setup, seemingly only used as a rest stop for delivery workers.

March 5 marked the first day that food service establishments could start applying online to join the Dining Out NYC program. (Apply here.)

City officials released the new guidelines, "Dining Out NYC," early last month. As previously noted, the significant change is that enclosed, year-round roadway dining structures will no longer be permitted. The revised regulations stipulate that roadway cafes must now be open-air, easily portable, and simple to assemble and dismantle. Additionally, these establishments are restricted to operating only from April through November. 

According to city officials, if restaurants plan to offer diners open-air options, owners must remove and replace their old outdoor dining setups by Aug. 24.

Quiet Reading at Book Club Bar — BYOB (book!)

The organizers of the Quiet Reading group (which usually meets Mondays at Martha's Country Bakery in Williamsburg) are hosting an event tomorrow (Tuesday!) night at the Book Club Bar on Third Street near Avenue B. 

Here's how it will work: Attendees bring their own book, everyone silently reads for an hour from 10 to 11 p.m., then there's general social discussion from 11 p.m. to midnight. You don't need a ticket, though organizers ask that you purchase a drink or snack from Book Club. 

There are plans for more Quiet Reading events in the East Village. For updates, you can follow the group on Instagram here.

Faceless Charlie Brown mural is now headless

The brickwork continues on the east-facing wall of east-facing wall at 402 E. 12th St. near First Avenue.

As noted, a crew here is working on the bricks, though we don't know the extent of the project — it looks like the whole wall is under repair.

Jerkface created the wall-size mural back in the fall of 2014.

2 East Village residents 'shaken and scared' after assault inside their building

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Two longtime East Village residents are recovering from a beating they suffered inside their building by a group of men who said they were soliciting business for an energy company. 

On Tuesday, March 5, at around 2 p.m., Wayne Rada (pictured above), co-founder of the LISA Project, said he buzzed in two people claiming to be from the "electric company" who came to his fifth-floor apartment to get him to sign up for Brown's Energy Services, an alternative energy supplier based on Staten Island. 

Rada and his husband, LISA Project cofounder Rey Rosa, escorted the two workers to the elevator to show them the first-floor office where they could leave sales material. 

The elevator stopped one floor down, and Rada and Rosa saw four to five more employees who said they were representing the same company.

Rada remarked that the group looked "more like a package theft ring," and Rosa took out his smartphone to photograph the men. At that point, the group allegedly pounced on Rada and Rosa, pushing them into the stairwell while punching and kicking the two. Rada described it as "gleeful rage."

Rosa was able to dial 911 on speakerphone and escape the men's clutches. 

Rada, treated at Bellevue, suffered an orbital fracture of the left ocular bone, a concussion, extensive bruising, and four broken teeth, as well as the loss of a molar. Rosa has strangulation bruises.

Both said they were severely shaken and having a difficult time recovering from the incident. 

Police sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, confirmed that four men were arrested, and two others have outstanding warrants in connection with this assault. It's not immediately clear if the alleged suspects were actually in the building to pitch renewable energy services or if they were carrying bogus documents.

The suspects left behind photocopied documents, including an ID badge (we blurred the person's name) with Brown's Energy on it ...

During a phone call last Tuesday, Michael Palmese, the owner of Brown's Energy, expressed his shock and horror about the assaults and said that he was not aware of them.

"Unequivocally, we don't have any agents who work for us," he said. "We are a supply company and have only four in-office employees."

Palmese said they will hire third-party marketing companies for in-person pitching, telemarketing, and sales at concerts, sporting events, and other venues. He said he'd get back to us with information about any third-party vendors but had done so by the time of this post. He also did not respond to follow-up calls.

Back in his East Village building last week, Rada discussed the assault ...

... and pointed out where there were still blood droplets on the stairwell floor and walls where the suspects slammed his head onto the concrete...

"This is all too, too much ... happening inside my building. It's surreal and makes it impossible to sleep," Rada said. "[The attack] repeats over and over in our heads. We are so shaken up and scared."

A 7-floor development in the works for the NW corner of 1st Avenue and 2nd Street

A 7-floor residential building with ground-floor retail is now slated for 33-37 First Ave., the vacant three-building assemblage between Second Street and Third Street. 

Developers filed the permits with the city this past Friday. According to the paperwork, the proposed building — using the address 88 E. Second St. — will be 19,278 square feet, with 2,994 square feet designated for commercial space. Plans call for 22 residential units (likely rentals, given the square footage). 

The filings list Manny Ashourzadeh of Romah Management Corp. as the owner (they also have a 13-floor building in the works on Fifth Street and Avenue D). Queens-based Gerry Caliendo is named as the architect of record.

Demolition permits were filed last summer, and some asbestos abatement taking place. 

New Double Dragon, the last business in these buildings, closed last July. The basement was home to the HaveAHeart recording studio.

The First Avenue Laundry Center and the Serenity Spa upstairs were previous business casualties in these three buildings. The other retail spot had been various quick-serve places, last occupied in 2015.

An EVG reader shared this view of the three doomed buildings that will yield the new development... 

If this helps... the three buildings to the left of the spaces that house Popeyes and d.b.a at 39 and 41 First Ave. ...