Melvin Felix

Mama’s Food Shop, a cheap-eats joint that had been a mainstay of the ever evolving and increasingly upscale East Village dining scene, closed last night after more than 15 years in business. Its proprietor, Jeremiah Clancy, sent The Local a statement addressed to patrons, supporters, and fans that cited “increasing rents and property taxes, and the constant expenses that arise when maintaining an older building.” He wrote, “I now join the ranks of Kate’s Joint, Zaitzeff, Life Café, and Lakeside Lounge; all business that have folded in a neighborhood going through a period of flux,” and went on to complain: “We live in a city where the Health Department has far too much power, the cost of the permits, inspections, and maintenance are so high it is impossible for a Mom & Pop operation to keep up with.”

The move comes just a few months after the shuttering of the restaurant’s short-lived Williamsburg outpost. At that time, Mr. Clancy, who took over for longtime owner Michael Rosenfeld in 2007, said he was open to finding an investor for the East Village location.

In 1999, The Times’ “$25 and Under” critic Eric Asimov, in a $10-and-under roundup, wrote that “this little self-serve restaurant with just a few tables, offers homey American dishes that are the equivalent of white picket fences and shady elm trees.” The menu and the business model – which called for customers to order a meat and a side (or three) at the front counter – never changed much, and the place never did score a liquor license. Brunch was eventually added and the restaurant got a boost from an appearance on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” but it apparently wasn’t enough.

Here’s Mr. Clancy explaining his decision to call it quits. Read more…

Congrats to M. Henry Jones: after launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund his trippy brand of 3D portraiture, the artist and animator reached his $11,000 goal yesterday. Among those who backed the project were East Village art-scene fixtures like Ann Magnuson and Amos Poe, plus (full disclosure) the author of this post. Meanwhile, over at Lucky Ant, the St. Mark’s Bookshop has secured a little over $5,000 of the $23,000 it hopes to raise for its relocation. (Full disclosure: The Local’s Stephen Rex Brown supported the store the old-fashioned way today, by going in and buying a book. “The Art of Fielding,” if you’re wondering.)

Sarah Darville The vacant space at 130 St. Marks Place.

Talk about no rest for the weary. While most Community Board 3 committees are taking the month off, the SLA and DCA Licensing committee will meet on August 20 to consider 45 different businesses seeking approval for new or modified licenses to sell alcohol.

Some of the highlights include a liquor license renewal of UCB East, which has a complaint history, according to the board. The new owners of Lakeside Lounge — soon to be Blackburn — are scheduled to appear before the committee, as expected.

A new business is bound for 130 St. Marks Place; an employee at Whole Earth Bakery next-door told The Local that rumor has it that it will be a sushi joint. (Take this with a grain of salt, Sushi Lounge is only a few doors away at Avenue A). The space had been vacant for close to a year.

And as usual, Nevada Smiths is once again scheduled to appear for approval of a full liquor license. The new location of the soccer bar has appeared on the agenda for months, only to be scratched at the last minute. Here’s the rest of what’s on tap for the Aug. 20 meeting. Read more…

Sarah Darville James McAvoy on set.

“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” starring James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain, is shooting in the neighborhood today. Mr. McAvoy was spotted in Cooper Triangle this morning, and signs indicated that filming would continue around 41 Cooper Square. That means director Ned Benson must’ve found the locations he was looking for: In June, flyers posted on Tenth Street asked locals to volunteer their apartments for the film.

Daniel Maurer

We interrupt your morning for an important announcement: Churreria, the sleek sliver of a Spanish cafe just below Houston Street on Mulberry, is now offering its free-churro deal all day long. Normally the deal would’ve wrapped up right around this time of day, but you can now score two authentic Spanish-style fried dough sticks (skinny, crisp, and lightly dusted with sugar instead of that cinnamon silliness) with every purchase of a cortado or any other coffee drink, any time the place is open (9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and till 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday).

As if that isn’t exciting enough, Churreria has also started serving wine and beer. Check out the lineup here.

De nada.

Scott Lynch At the “Mystery Lot,” which isn’t so mysterious anymore.

Good morning, East Village.

The Times reports on the New York Marble Cemetery’s decision to open itself up to events. The trustees see the parties, weddings and film shoots as a way to “make the cemetery pay for itself.”

The gents at Big Gay Ice Cream tweeted on Friday that two of their employees were asked to identify a suspect who allegedly tried to use a counterfeit $100 bill at the ice cream joint, as well as Porchetta and Luke’s Lobster. “We don’t play!” the owners joked.

An owner of Northern Spy tells USA Today that FourSquare has been a boon for business. “On one level, it’s like a digital maitre d’.” Read more…

I have lived in and photographed the East Village since 1983. There really are eight million stories in the Naked City and you will find whatever one you want out there. Over eight million people live here, and I am going to photograph one or two of them at a time, alone with a situation. I want the viewer to feel the intimacy of this one person by that one building, to know there is a history here, to feel the narrative, without even knowing the story. And sometimes the building will tell me the story of the person who isn’t in the photo anymore.

This man is in front of a closed up space on East Sixth Street that used to be the Gladiators Gym. I was a member there in 1985. One of only two women that belonged. Kind of a hardcore lifting joint. Sad to see it closed up. I love the flat black paint, like a blackboard.
Read more…

Daniel Maurer

You’ll have to shell out $16.5 million to own Allen Ginsberg’s old apartment on East Second Street (along with the building and the one next door), but you can visit one of his other former homes without paying a cent.

Last month, we invited you to sign up for The Local’s newsletter for a chance to win a tour of Ginsberg’s later digs at 437 East 12th Street. The rare sit-down in the poet’s living room of more than two decades will be hosted by his longtime assistant Bob Rosenthal, who has many a memory of the place (it doubled as his office). Turns out, a couple of our lucky winners won’t be able to make it on the evening of Aug. 7, so we’re giving you a chance to take their place. Just sign up here to get The Local’s top stories delivered to your inbox daily, and we’ll be in touch Aug. 1 if you’re a winner.

Good luck!

The six-story building planned for 372 Lafayette Street is on its way, according to documents filed with the Department of Buildings. The application, filed on Tuesday, is for the demolition (with “hand tools only”) of the one-story garage, built in 1933, on the corner of Great Jones Street. Last November, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved architect Morris Adjmi’s second round of plans for an apartment building on the site.

Melvin Felix

A late-night standby for cheap, heaping helpings of Latin grub has closed its doors in the face of a rent hike, according to an employee.

La Isla, on 14th Street, stopped serving cuchifritos, empanadas, rotisserie chicken and other Caribbean staples this week, and will officially give up its space between Avenues A and B on Monday. Yesterday, it was empty but for a refrigerator, a steam table and a small plant by the front window, which an employee said had been there since La Isla opened a almost decade ago.

The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said the restaurant’s management had decided not to renew the ten-year lease at 542 East 14th Street because its landlord had asked for an additional $3,000 per month, plus additional property tax payments; the one-two punch would’ve meant paying almost $15,000 per month instead of the previous $8,000. Read more…

New York Police Department The suspect.

Stephen Rex Brown The scene at Emigrant Savings Bank around 45 minutes after the attempted robbery last month.

The police are on the hunt for a man in his 30s who made a failed attempt to rob an Emigrant Savings Bank on June 4.

The suspect, who is thought to be around 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, passed a note to the teller of the bank on Second Avenue at around 3:10 p.m. demanding cash. The teller refused, and the suspect took off, the police said.

Suzanne Rozdeba

Good morning, East Village.

Our contributor Suzanne Rozdeba sent us the above shot of last night’s storm shortly before it rolled over the East Village. Gothamist rounded up some more shots.

The Times reports that concerns about the storm moved Governor Cuomo to meet with Con Ed executives and union higher-ups; the two parties were able to come to a tentative agreement on a four-year contract yesterday.

But protests continued near Union Square: Gothamist spotted members of the Community/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers demanding that Chipotle sign on to a Fair Food Program that insures a raise for Florida tomato pickers. (Chipotle says that although it hasn’t signed the agreement, it only works with workers who’ve done so.) Read more…

Concerned cyclists can breathe easy: the two bike racks being removed from the west side of the cube at Astor Place tomorrow will be reinstalled after August 18, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation. The racks are not going to be replaced by a bike share station, as some commenters had speculated on EV Grieve. Rather, they’re being taken out to make way for Summer Streets, the annual event that closes roads to cars on the first three weekends in August and includes a stage at Astor Place. (So no need to go claiming one of the remaining racks as private). If you’re looking for the zip line that the city set up in Union Square last month as a teaser for Summer Streets, though, you’ll have to head south to Foley Square near City Hall.

Alan Yuch

Two weeks after members of the Cro-Mags were allegedly stabbed by the band’s former bassist, hardcore returned to Webster Hall as Give Up the Ghost performed a pair of sold-out shows.

The Boston band (still known to many as American Nightmare or A.N., though a copyright suit forced them to change the name in 2002) kept Webster Hall’s bouncers on their toes Friday and Saturday. “Things were a little tighter security-wise,” said guitarist Brian Masek. “Hardcore isn’t always violent, but it’s dark, aggressive music, so it brings out a certain element.”

Indeed, the mosh pit was hundreds strong as vocalist Wes Eisold, who also leads synth-goth act Cold Cave, belted out the honest, poetic lyrics that have inspired a generation of tattooed hardcore kids. Read more…

A driver involved in a car accident at Avenue C and East Houston Street assaulted a traffic agent who arrived on the scene yesterday, police said.

The suspect, Lower East Side resident Magda Napoleon, was driving a Dodge Caravan through the intersection at around 9 a.m. when she was involved in an accident with another vehicle that fled the scene, a police spokeswoman said.

The police said that Ms. Napoleon — apparently infuriated by the accident — threw a liquid in the face of a traffic agent who responded to the accident; the confrontation escalated further, and the 43-year-old suspect ended up in a scuffle with the traffic agent. A 40-year-old man, Jason Ferrer, is said to have joined the melee, and ended up in handcuffs as well.

Ms. Napoleon was charged with assault. Mr. Ferrer faces a charge of obstructing government administration. The traffic agent was taken to New York Downtown Hospital for scratches and bruises on her face.

Sandy Berger The ventilator unit.

After neighbors complained for weeks about the “constant roar” and “inescapable blare” of IHOP’s new ventilator unit, the restaurant on East 14th Street was issued a noise violation on Monday, the Department of Environmental Protection said.

The noise from the ventilator, which was installed after complaints about an unbearable smell of bacon, had caused neighbors to file at least four complaints with the DEP. On Monday, the restaurant was smacked with $560 in fines, said Ted Timbers, a spokesperson for the agency.

But neighbors will have to keep complaining before they can get their peace and quiet: Mr. Timbers said the DEP can’t serve IHOP with an order to cease and desist until it has been issued three separate violations, and the Environmental Control Board won’t make a ruling about the first one until Sept. 10.

Mary Beth Powers, a neighbor of the pancake house, felt the city wasn’t doing enough. “Factory restaurants like IHOP don’t belong directly beneath people’s homes,” she said. “The city is so worried about our health that they want to ban mega-sodas and cigarettes (ideas that have merit); I wish they would extend that concern to making sure that commercial establishments located in heavily populated neighborhoods don’t make those areas uninhabitable.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the ventilation unit as a “smog-hog.” That reference has been deleted since the term is a brand name and Smog Hog says that it did not manufacture the unit in question.

Courtesy Village Fishmonger Farm-raised littleneck clams are one of the
types of seafood that will be offered through the
“community-supported fishery.”

It’s a common lament at community board meetings: the neighborhood needs a butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Inevitably someone will add, “And a fishmonger!”

If Samantha Lee’s plans come to fruition, one of those neighborhood needs will be filled. She and two partners have founded the Village Fishmonger, a seafood-pickup service modeled on community-supported agriculture — everyone calls them CSAs — that should deliver its first bounty off the boat in September.

Ms. Lee also aims to open a brick-and-mortar location in the East Village sometime early next year. Read more…

The perennially on-the-brink St. Mark’s Bookshop has unveiled a new crowdfunding campaign on Lucky Ant to pay for its move to a new location. The campaign comes less than a week after a successful cash mob. Crain’s, which first reported the latest plea, notes that the Bookshop hopes to raise $23,000. The initiative is particularly urgent because the store’s rent, which it renegotiated with landlord Cooper Union last year, will sharply increase in January.

The Times gets a tour of Reno Dakota’s Bed-Stuy Brownstone. In his salad days, Mr. Dakota “was for many years a downtown beau idéal, living in the East Village, working as a prop stylist and decorating nightclubs like Area, even inspiring a song by the Magnetic Fields about unrequited attraction.”

EV Grieve has an update on the ongoing tenant-landlord clash at 50, 54 and 58 East Third Street, where over a dozen people were notified their leases would not be renewed earlier this year. Now, a rep is going door to door talking to remaining tenants about buyouts and “relocation opportunities,” as heavy renovations are about to begin on vacant apartments. “Many tenants have accepted our offer as most people aren’t interested in living in a building that is under construction and they would much rather move during the summer months,” a letter from the rep reads.
Read more…