The East Ninth Street storefront where Turkish fast-food joint Cigkoftem opened in February is now for rent, and a vandal who left his mark there in recent days seems worried N.Y.U. or 7-Eleven will replace it.
That’s unlikely, but: Back in September, a construction worker told The Local that 170 Avenue A, the former home of Bar on A, was getting a 7-Eleven. The job applicant listed on the construction permit was an architect of previous 7-Elevens, so it seemed likely to be true. But 7-Eleven didn’t respond to inquiries, and we never got official confirmation (which didn’t stop readers – and writers, and neighboringbusinesses – from weighing in.)
Today, there’s further evidence: A construction application approved last week confirms that work at 170 Avenue A will involve the “infill of a convenience store.”
Sure, there’s always the chance said “convenience store” will be the city’s first Wawa (as hoagie fans, we wouldn’t be opposed), but it’s looking more and more like 7-Eleven.
Last month, the owner of Salon Champu and Body Beautiful on East Seventh Street said he was planning to combine the salon and spa at a new address. Last week, he opened Salon Champu at 199 East Fourth Street, the space previously occupied by body piercer-to-the-stars Maria Tash.
“People still come in here asking if they can get a new piercing,” Richard Cacace laughed as he showed The Local around his new spot, simple and cozy with large, thick-framed mirrors leaning against an exposed brick wall.
Mr. Cacace thought it was a good sign, particularly from an economic perspective, to see other shops like Croissanteria opening up nearby on Avenue A. “Now, there are these unique, specialty businesses opening up, compared to the old Alphabet City, where there were mostly bodegas,” he said. “These new shops uplift the area and give it more credibility.”
The salon offers organic hair coloring, Keratin treatments, Japanese hair-straightening treatments, vegan hair-care
services, and skin care services such as facials and laser and wax treatments.
Salon Champu, 199 East Fourth Street, (212) 529-6925.
The police officer who was arrested for stealing weapons out of station-house lockers and selling them for drugs has pled guilty, according to The Times. Nicholas Mina is expected to be sentenced to 15 and a half years of prison on Nov. 7. Runnin’ Scared, The Post, and CBS News also covered it.
Also in the Ninth, The Daily News reports that the officers who were acquitted of raping an East Village woman are contesting charges of official misconduct: “If it’s not related to your official duties, it’s not misconduct,” their lawyer argues. “Going to check up on a woman that is drunk is not part of their job, but it shouldn’t constitute a crime.” The Post also has coverage.
The Post discovers the identity of the woman who jumped to her death from a University Place building yesterday. Read more…
Shots rang out at Campos Plaza this afternoon, according to residents who continued to voice concerns about security in the wake of a shooting earlier this month.
The president of the Campos Plaza Tenant Association – who, like others who spoke to The Local, insisted on anonymity due to concerns about personal safety – said she was at home when, shortly after 3:30 p.m., she heard three shots ring out. “A lot of people were out here,” she said. “People were at the bus stop across the street, running for cover.”
From her window, she saw over a dozen young men, aged about 15 to 25, running toward Avenue C. Read more…
Angelina Cafe will reopen this evening across from its former location on Avenue A.
Starting at 5 p.m., you’ll be able to indulge in favorites like the grilled tuna steak or try new dishes such as a Tunisian burger with goat cheese, roasted pepper and harissa mayonnaise. In the next weeks, daily specials will be introduced to the menu of $20-and-under items, which you can see below.
Imen Bouzgarrou, who opened Angelina alongside husband Rafik in 2002, said she was excited to have a “newer, bigger, open space to attract more customers.” As previously reported, the Tunisian natives’ landlord wanted to raise their rent at 36B Avenue A to $7,500 per month – on par with what they’re paying for the larger venue across the street, Mrs. Bouzgarrou confirmed.
In addition to handmade pastas and a more expansive wine selection, the new Angelina boasts a private party area where larger groups can relax behind an orange curtain.
Dinner will be served this week from 5 p.m. to close and brunch is served on the weekends. Lunch will begin next week and breakfast will eventually be incorporated into regular business hours. See the menu…
Alexa Mae AsperinUniversity Place and 13th Street.
A 57-year-old woman died after plummeting from a building on the corner of University Place and 13th Street, the police said.
The fire department received reports of a jumper in cardiac arrest around 11:50 a.m.
Isaac Samuels Bruton, 45, was working nearby on a film shoot when he heard that a woman jumped out of a window. “A couple of my co-workers were going to lunch and said they saw her coming down,” he said.
Shearn Franklin, 20, an employee of Vive la Crêpe, located diagonally across the street, said he was facing a customer when he heard a “loud pop” from the shop’s open windows. “I thought it was someone dropping a box,” he said. He walked outside the store with his manager and saw a person lying lifeless on the pavement. Read more…
After being accused of federal tax violations in what he believes is a response to his representation of controversial clients that include alleged terrorists, Stanley Cohen is facing another court battle this week: he’s being told to pay real estate taxes or leave his longtime base of operations on Avenue D.
On July 30, the outspoken attorney’s landlord, Hasa Realty, issued a five-day notice demanding that Mr. Cohen pay $45,780 by Aug. 8 or give up his home office at 119 Avenue D. In papers filed Aug. 14 in Civil Court, the landlord claims that the $4,500-per-month loft is being rented for commercial purposes, and is subject to real estate tax totaling $37,637 in 2011 and 2012.
But Mr. Cohen claims in a response filed Aug. 29 that the loft from which he works is also used for residential purposes, and his landlord has long known and agreed to this – meaning Hasa has no grounds for a commercial summary proceeding. He adds that conditions such as the absence of a fire escape “render the premises unfit for the use intended,” and demands an abatement for the months during which he paid rent despite the unsafe conditions. Read more…
Hot on the heels of Saturday’s Halloween Dog Parade, the Mad Hatter Tea Party brought psychedelic costumes, stilt walkers, and free cookies to Tompkins Square Park.
Nicolina Johnson, the event’s main organizer along with The Free Art Society, said the annual event has doubled in size since it started three years ago. “The mission is to completely blur the line between spectator and performer, and bring people in to this world of magic and merriment that’s around them all the time,” said the artist. She and other organizers made extra hats in case people wandering by without a costume wanted to join in.
The crowd included people of all ages and hats of all sizes: Jillian Kimberling, 11, danced with her parents and younger sister. “It’s really cool. I really like all the costumes and the live music, and there are actually people portraying the real characters of Alice in Wonderland,” she said. Indeed the Mad Hatter and the March Hare started things off, and soon a six-person caterpillar began to wind its way through the crowd. The Queen of Hearts circulated authoritatively, stilt walkers danced, and an executioner dragged voluntary prisoners around behind her on leather ropes. Read more…
The champions of the 22nd annual Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade were no strangers to the winner’s circle. The pup that ranked Best in Show has won a similar contest on the Upper East Side the last three years, dressed as a hurricane and as Beyonce. Gracie, winner of the second round, took Best in Show two years ago as Scarlett O’Hara. That year, Benny the boxer also got a prize as Internet sensation Antoine Dodson.
Dana VarinskyBenny the Boxer as Butthead
This year it was Benny’s behind that got all the attention: glasses and a wig were perched atop his tiny tail to make it look like a wiggling nose.
The Butthead costume was spontaneous. “I wasn’t sure I was going to dress him up,” said Benny’s owner, Michael Godere. But the dog’s godfather, Grover Guinta, came over that morning with a bag of wigs and glasses. “We just improvised,” Mr. Godere said, laughing when another dog sniffed Benny’s rear-end. “It’s great when the other dogs try to kiss his butt.” Read more…
An 18-year-old burglar who allegedly swiped a laptop from Tompkins Square Bagels has been arrested and linked to 10 other crimes in the neighborhood, per the Post.
The Post notes that employees of clubs like Solas and Bowery Electric have helped catch patrons who “dipped” into purses to steal cash and personal items.
On the heels of L’Apicio (Eater runs an opening slideshow of that one), another high-profile restaurateur is coming to the neighborhood: Diner’s Journal reports that the team behind Blue Ribbon will open a fried chicken restaurant at 28 East First Street, at Second Avenue. Read more…
Smoke poured out of a manhole at St. Marks Place and Third Avenue this morning.
The condition was noticed shortly before 11 a.m., according to a ConEd spokesperson who cited a failure of underground equipment. No one was injured, he said.
On Twitter, one person reported seeing fireballs. ConEd said the smoke was likely from smouldering equipment rather than from a fire.
M101, M102 and M103 buses were rerouted while the fire department and ConEd investigated the incident.
Last night at Capitale, Tyra Banks presided over a “Flawsome Ball” benefiting the TZone, her leadership development center in the forthcoming new location of the Lower Eastside Girls Club.
Asked if she would give Mitt Romney binders full of TZone women should he be elected, the supermodel laughed. “I almost Tweeted about the new season of ‘Top Model’ being full of binders of men and women,” she said. The election was also on the mind of Rosario Dawson, who said she was helping the Obama campaign sign up minority voters. Read more…
After almost a month of using makeshift classrooms in buildings around the city, East Side Community High School and Girls Prep Middle School received more bad news this week: construction on their evacuated East 12th Street building is now slated to last into February.
In a letter to parents, Kathleen Grimm, Deputy Chancellor of the Department of Education, said that repair of the building’s east side, where on Sept. 24 a wall was found to have separated from the structure, would involve the basement-to-roof construction of a new masonry-and-steel wall. “This work will take several months to complete,” said Ms. Grimm. The new plan is to move the schools back into the building during their February break, after which the building’s brick facade will continue to be rebuilt off-hours. Read more…
Self-styled as a “multimedia one-man feat,” Darian Dauchan’s “Obamatry” opens up a dialogue between America and its president through speech, video, and music. Oftentimes it is difficult to gauge who exactly is speaking through Mr. Dauchan; the spoken word artist channels Obama as skillfully as he does the diverse people of America, exploring the hope, disappointment, trust, and fear which we’ve felt sometimes simultaneously these past four years.
Grounded in spoken word, the piece contains plenty of impressive rhapsodizing embellished with alliteration and peppered with humor. These are the moments when Mr. Dauchan reaches, along with the audience, a near ecstasy, not explaining but illustrating what it feels like to be black in America, to be let down by one’s leaders, or simply to be American. Fans of Mr Dauchan will see previous material (such as the poem in the video below) worked into this polyphonic framework. Read more…
For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Otto’s Shrunken Head.
Otto’s Shrunken Head turns 10 today, and tomorrow the punk-rock tiki bar and live music venue will celebrate with an overflowing scorpion bowl of bands, DJs, and raucous revelry. The decade hasn’t been all sugar: partners Steve Pang, Nell Mellon and Patricia Lou have survived everything from a devastating fire to rising property taxes. “We came out of the worst year ever for us with that fire and now seeing that we were able to make it to ten years, I feel confident that we will be here a while,” said Mr. Pang. “We are beginning to make our mark on the city.” We grabbed a few words with Mr. Pang to chat about Otto’s’ journey toward becoming an institution, in a city that has lost many of them.
Q.
You’re at ten years; how would you say business is doing?
A.
We are doing well. This is our best year yet. Even when it’s slow we tend to have a nice crowd always at the bar. Summer is always a slow time for bars in general, and now that summer is over we’re really busy again. Fall to after Christmas is our busiest time. Read more…
The Daily News reports that authorities still haven’t tracked down the alleged killer of soccer coach Michael Jones, who is said to have fled to Mexico. The police say that they received “excellent cooperation from the Mexican authorities” and the investigation is ongoing, but Mexican authorities tell the News they’re not on the case.
DNA Info reports that two men were arrested for “dipping” at Bowery Electric, a trend that is on the rise and involves “delving into bags and coats to lift valuables such as iPhones, wallets and cash.”
Grub Street reports that one of the city’s most respected chefs, experimentalist Wylie Dufresne of WD-50, will open a 50-seat pub serving “modern casual food and well-crafted cocktails” in the former Plum pizzeria space at 157 Second Avenue. Read more…
A teaser video for the “Mad Supper” installation at Ideal Glass.
FRIDAY, OCT. 19 “Ghosts of New York Tour: Peter Stuyvesant And His Ghostly Neighbors Of The East Village”
During this tour of some of the neighborhood’s spooky sites, the tour guide will perform as a downtown denizen from the past, such as Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain and Washington Irving. 7 p.m., tour begins at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street at Second Avenue, (718) 591-4741, ghostsofny.com/calendar/; $25.
SATURDAY, OCT. 20 “Halloween Haunting: Phantom Pub Crawl of the East Village Starring Harry Houdini”
Join the search for Harry Houdini, Edgar Allan Poe, Jonathan Swift and other ghosts known for their fondness for the drink, at some of their favorite drinking spots. The tour meets in front of the lion sculpture in front of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, northwest corner of Tenth Street and Second Avenue. 6:30 p.m. $25 by credit card online; $30 in person if space is available. Read more…
Taureau isn’t the only recently closed restaurant making a comeback: I Coppi, which closed in September, will reopen in the former home of Vampire Freaks, under a new name, I Cipressi.
“I just wanted to make a change, to start new and fresh,” Lorella Innocenti, the restaurant’s owner, said of the new monicker.
While the name may have changed, the menu will remain largely the same, with the possible addition of a few new Tuscan dishes. “I am going to keep the dishes that I know people want, and once in a while put in new dishes and specials,” said Ms. Innocenti. Read more…
The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards.
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Alexa Mae Asperin
