Phillip Kalantzis Cope

Good morning, East Village.

A fire in a five-story building on First Avenue near East Third Street briefly disturbed the pre-holiday peace Wednesday night, but was quickly extinguished. EV Grieve has photos. Battalion Chief Patrick Sheridan told The Local that the fire started inside a duplex apartment on the top floor of the building and that the cause was under investigation. There were no injuries to firefighters or civilians, Chief Sheridan said, adding that all residents of the building except those living in the apartment where the fire began were permitted to return to their homes Wednesday night.

In other neighborhood news, The Times reports on a judge’s ruling against the use of “stop-and-frisk” police tactics in public housing developments; the case at issue originated a bit south of the East Village in the Baruch Houses.

And New York magazine offers a look inside the East Village apartment of the singer John Legend.