L.P.C. The original (left) and final (right) historic districts.

Daniel Maurer 112-116 First Avenue

Six addresses originally slated to be part of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District were ultimately excluded from the protected zone.

Elisabeth de Bourbon, a spokesperson for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said that 343 and 403 East Sixth Street as well as 92 East Seventh Street and 112-116 First Avenue were left out because “they don’t have a style, unlike all the other buildings in the district which do have a style such as Italianate, Queen Anne, and Romanesque revival.” Read more…

A woman was robbed at gunpoint early this morning.

Chilling screams were heard near East 12th Street and Avenue A around 3 a.m.

The commanding officer of the Ninth Precinct, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, confirmed that a woman was held up at gunpoint by three men.

Though neighbors were awakened to a cry of “rape,” no formal allegations of sexual assault were made, said Deputy Inspector Cappelmann. The victim was sobbing as she told officers who responded to the incident, “I have nothing; he took everything.” She was unable to give a detailed description of her attackers, according to the commanding officer. No arrests have been made in the case.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the creation of an East Village/Lower East Side Historic District today, bestowing landmark privileges on 330 buildings.

The district, surrounding Second Avenue from East Seventh Street to East Second Street, received enthusiastic support from six commissioners, with just one voting against it.

The decision is two years in the making, as the district was mapped after the commission conducted an extensive survey in 2010.

After a brief presentation recounting the neighborhood’s history – from the mansions and row houses of the 1830s to the advent of tenements, vaudeville theaters, and German immigrants – commissioner Elizabeth Ryan said, “It’s great to hear that most of the structures have changed little since the 1930s.”

Michael Devonshire, another commissioner who voted in favor of the district, said he was “scared to death” when he first walked through the Lower East Side in 1967, but that he now considered it New York’s “culturally richest district.”

Pablo E. Vengoechea, the commission’s vice chair, called the historic district “long overdue.” Read more…

Historical view of 37 Great Jones.

Ahead of its momentous vote on the East Village-Lower East Side Historic District today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission gave its blessing to two residential developments in the existing NoHo Historic District.

The first, a 12-story building set to rise on the lot at 688 Broadway that houses the NoHo flea market, received high praise from commissioners who admired design touches such as its terra cotta “fins.” With their varied angles and perlescent sheen, the panels on the building’s facade will create visual effects depending on how the sun hits them during various times of day. The commissioners commended the building’s developers, and the architectural firm of B.K.S.K., for reaching out to the community and coming up with a design that was consistent with the NoHo Historic District. Read more…

Nicole Guzzardi Day of the Dead figurines at La Sirena.

Nicole Guzzardi

La Sirena, the Mexican memorabilia shop that got news of a whopping rent hike in July, will live to see another Day of the Dead.

Despite earlier indications that she planned to close her store at 27 East Third Street, Dina Leor now says she won’t give up (or pack up) until she receives written documentation from Tower Brokerage that her rent will increase by 42 percent.

Asked about her future plans, she told The Local, “I don’t know yet because it’s not clear yet what we’re negotiating. They told me 42 percent but I said I want it in writing.” She said she made the request about a month ago.

While she continues to pay rent on a month-by-month basis, Ms. Leor is having merchandise shipped in from Mexican artisans, in hopes that Day of the Dead will mean killer business. “I really need stuff to get sold because I don’t want to move all this when I move, but also I need the money,” she said. Read more…

Certain things tend to haunt us this time of year. Last year, it was a ghostly patch of decaying pumpkins that vanished into thin air one day. And this year? 

Sasha von Oldershausen

Behind a green plywood fence on the corner of Avenue C and Sixth Street lies one of the greatest, most disturbing mysteries of the East Village.

“Oh my goodness,” said Denine Stewart, an East Village resident, as she peered through the fence for the first time.

“I’ve always wondered why this fence is here and so offensive to the eye. Now I see why: inside, it’s doubly offensive,” she said.

Keith Beavers said the site has been around since he opened Alphabet City Wine Company down the block, in 2007. “It was little then and now it’s gotten bigger,” he said, emphasizing the enormity of the thing with a word that cannot be uttered here. “It’s as big as a smart car.”

In fact, it’s bigger than a smart car: 12 feet by 10 feet to be exact, and approximately six feet deep, according to Department of Buildings records.

But what is it? Read more…

Mary Reinholz

Good morning, East Village.

A memorial for Michael Jones – consisting of a rosary, flowers, scrawled notes and a soccer jersey – drew the attention of local news cameras on West 14th Street last night. The Liverpool native’s father tells the Daily News that his family is “stuck in shock.” Residents of Armonk, N.Y., where Mr. Jones taught youth soccer, tell the Wall Street Journal they’re similarly shocked.

Following recent rape allegations in Tompkins Square Park, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio calls for the police to tally up data concerning rapes in city parks, according to Runnin’ Scared.

N.Y.U. Against the Sexton Plan will host a benefit for its lawsuit against the school’s expansion plan. The show at Le Poisson Rouge tomorrow will feature performances by legendary avant-garde saxophonist and composer John Zorn, Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore, David Amram, and, we’re told, special guests. More info here, and tickets here.
Read more…

N.Y.P.D.

The police are seeking to question Joshua Nunez, 21, in connection with a fatal shooting that occurred Saturday night outside of a Lower East Side barber shop.

NoLIta resident Charles Fernandez was attacked outside of the Jose Beauty Salon and Barber Shop at 110 Forsyth Street, around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night. He was shot in the torso and taken by private means to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The shooting was just one of several weekend incidents in the area. In addition to an alleged rape in Tompkins Square Park and a fatal slashing near Union Square, a man was stabbed Saturday night in the subway station at West 14th Street and Seventh Avenue, according to Gothamist. The 28-year-old victim was in stable condition after the attack, per the Post.

Daniel Maurer

Just in time for the 50-degree weather(!), Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria has scored a dozen outdoor seats. You can now enjoy the hefty porchetta sandwich right on Great Jones Street. The sidewalk café will remain open for lunch and dinner as weather permits.

By the way, Il Buco A & V also has a loft space you probably didn’t know about, and this week it’ll be put to use as Renato Brancaleoni presents a series of dinners showcasing his handcrafted cheeses.

Alexa Mae Asperin

Looks like we might have solved the mystery of the dessert shop bound for 15 Avenue B: city records indicate that mobile vendor Wafels & Dinges has secured the space.

When Manny Haimovich, owner of the building on the corner of Second Street, spoke to The Local last month, he revealed only that a sweets spot would serve ice cream there. Maybe he was referring to the popular speculoos ice cream that’s served at the seven carts and trucks that Wafels & Dinges has launched since 2007: the health department’s Web site indicates that the popular Belgian waffle brand is awaiting its first inspection at the address.

Asked whether he will indeed open his first brick-and-mortar store on Avenue B, owner Thomas DeGeest declined to comment. Maybe we should’ve asked in mime language?

Suzanne RozdebaFrom left: Yurij, Gregory and Larissa at Elsewhere Espresso.

Earlier today, Gregory Bohdanowycz, 33, his sister, Larissa, 30, and their younger brother Yurij, 27, put the finishing touches on Elsewhere Espresso, the coffee shop they’ll open on East Sixth Street later this week.

Mr. Bohdanowycz described the project as a “work in progress,” explaining with a laugh, “There’s probably a lot of baggage from just being brothers and sisters for so long.” On the other hand, the siblings don’t pay rent, because their family owns the building. “Once we get going, we’ll be paying rent by the year’s end. But I don’t think we’ll get kicked out,” he quipped.

Ms. Bohdanowycz said she wanted locals to think of Elsewhere as “a neighborhood place,” so the shop will offer free WiFi with coffee purchases as well as tables and chairs made from the refurbished space’s original floor beams. Read more…

Last month’s story about an East Village resident fighting for a $291-a-month rent-controlled apartment sparked many a comment: one reader insisted that Margaret Hearn was “abusing a system meant for New Yorkers who earn modest livings to be able to continue to live in the city”; another posited that she had “earned her right to keep [her apartment] and belongs to a community.”

Perhaps the most notable comment, from a group called NYC Renters’ Alliance for Housing Choice, argued that “we need to reform the rent laws to make them more market-rate tenant friendly.” While local groups like Good Old Lower East Side and the Cooper Square Committee fight for the rights of low-income tenants, it’s not often we encounter a staunch advocate for market-rate tenants. (Though there have been notable cases.) So we decided to speak to the group’s founder, Gregory Bronner, 36, a Harlem resident and life-long New Yorker who thinks rent regulations should be phased out, with moderate subsidies given to the “truly needy.”

What was the idea behind starting this group?

In landlord-tenant issues, you realize there are stakeholders who don’t have a voice, and they are predominantly market-rate tenants. We are mostly market-rate tenants, stakeholders who got priced out of New York and have to move to the suburbs, people who got divorced and had to move out, and some landlords. We started last year and so far we’re just on Facebook, with 105 members. Read more…

Joann Pan

Locals craving East Village Thai’s finger rolls, peanut sauce-drenched chicken satae sticks and the pad thai dish that The Daily News recently declared one of the “best of New York” will have to go elsewhere for now.

The gates of the hole-in-the-wall takeout joint between Second and Third Avenues were down during lunchtime today: a note indicated that a gas shut-off had forced it to close until “the problem is resolved.”

We’ve reached out to Jakobson Properties, the landlord of 32 East Seventh Street, for more information.

Spanky & Darla’s reopened Sunday after being forced to close by the health department, according to an employee of the bar. The health department notice, which cited the bar for operating without a permit, was posted Oct. 3. The Local has left a message for the owner; we’ll let you know if we hear more about the circumstances of the closure.

Michael Jones New York Red Bulls

The police have released new video of the man they say stabbed 25-year-old Michael Jones to death near Union Square early Sunday morning.

The Times reports that detectives are reviewing surveillance footage that shows Mr. Jones walking down West 14th Street with his attacker shortly before he was stabbed in the neck and torso (his ear was also cut off). According to The Post, he had been bar-hopping earlier in the evening, and called his girlfriend around 4:17 a.m., shortly before the assault.

Mr. Jones – a Liverpool native, per the Daily News – was in his fifth year as a coach at the New York Red Bulls Academy, a youth training program. (He is not to be confused with former Red Bulls defender Mike Jones.) The soccer team released a statement describing him as “a tremendous individual, a fantastic coach who loved soccer and a terrific friend for many of us.”

Scott Lynch The Art in Odd Places festival is on.

Good morning, East Village.

In case you missed our weekend posts, a homeless man was arrested after a woman said she was raped while sleeping in Tompkins Square Park Friday night. Plus, two more disturbing incidents: on Saturday, a NoLIta man was shot and killed outside of a Lower East Side barber shop, and on Sunday morning, a New Jersey man was slashed to death near Union Square. We’ll have more on that later this morning.

The Times notes that friends and relatives of Lower East Side documentarian Bradley Will are still pressing for information about his 2006 killing in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Former East Village couple Amber Tamblyn and David Cross got married, per US Weekly. An attendee said that Yo La Tengo played Superchunk, Mission of Burma, and Pixies covers at the ceremony. Read more…

A man was fatally shot on the Lower East Side last night and another was stabbed to death near Union Square early this morning.

Shortly before 4:24 a.m. today, a man was assaulted in front of 25 West 14th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the police said. The victim, 25, was stabbed in the torso and neck. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital.

No arrests have been made, the police said. The Post has some gruesome details about the crime scene.

Investigators are also searching for suspects in the shooting of a man outside of a barber shop at 110 Forsyth Street last night. Witnesses told The Lo-Down that an argument at Jose Beauty Salon and Barber Shop spilled out onto the street.

Update | 3 p.m. The police have now identified the victim of this morning’s stabbing as 25-year-old Michael Jones of Hasbrouck Heights. The investigation is still ongoing.

Update | 7:45 p.m. The victim of last night’s shooting has been identified as Charles Fernandez, a NoLIta resident. The police said he was shot in the torso and pronounced dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital. He was 29, not 32 as first reported by The Lo-Down. Also, the police now say that this morning’s shooting victim was a resident of West Harrison, N.Y., not Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. as they originally reported. The suspect in that homicide, thought to be between 25 and 30, appears in the video above.

Update | Oct. 8, 7:20 p.m.
Here’s the Guy Police Are Looking For After Lower East Side Shooting
New Video of Union Square Stabbing Suspect

Daniel Maurer The entrance to the park last night.

Daniel Maurer Police tape in the park.

A man was arrested last night after a woman said she was raped in Tompkins Square Park.

The police said that around 10 p.m., a woman who had been sleeping in the park said she was awoken to a man raping her. She ran to a nearby store for help. The police searched the area and arrested an individual who fit her description, and are currently trying to determine whether the woman’s allegations are truthful.

Last night, shortly after midnight, an area inside of the park, near Avenue B and East Eighth Street, was cordoned off by police tape.

Update | 8:50 p.m. The Daily News reports that the suspect is a 27-year-old homeless man, Ruben Canales.

Photos: Daniel Maurer

East 12th Street was closed this morning so that a crane could hoist contractors who performed work on the building’s northeast corner. Until now, workers have been disassembling bricks, one by one, from the middle of the building’s eastern wall. Today, they drilled a series of holes down the building’s northeast corner and hammered in metal spikes; a bungie-esque cord is currently wrapped around the corner of the building that’s closest to 12th Street and Avenue A. A worker on the ground said they were checking to see whether the building’s wall was still bulging.

Watch The Local’s slideshow to see this morning’s activity and the current state of the wall. We’ll have more on the relocation of Girls Prep and East Side next week.

Also: Flyers being handed out near the church parking lot, which was the site of the Mary Help of Christians flea market but is now being used by construction vehicles, indicate that the flea market will be at Immaculate Conception Church every Saturday, starting next week.