Photos: Daniel Maurer

Less than a month after Quantum Leap closed, its successor, Sao Mai, has opened at 203 First Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets. Ronny Nguyen, the executive chef, told The Local that he opened Saturday.

The chef, who migrated from South Vietnam in 1984, said he was eager to test the East Village waters after five years at Xe Lửa on Mulberry Street. “There are more American people here,” he said. “In Chinatown, there’s a restaurant on every corner. Over here, I don’t see many Vietnamese restaurants.” Read more…

Chelsia Rose Marcius Alex Diaz, 13, of the Lower East Side, skates
on the dismantled ramps.

Open Road Park was recently closed until further notice, but its wooden skate ramps lingered. On Saturday, they were finally removed from the lot on 12th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A and put out on the curb for trash pickup. That didn’t stop local skateboarders from using them one last time, as Jose Morales and a few friends reassembled a pile of dismantled planks into a makeshift skate park along 12th Street.

Mr. Morales, 13, of the Lower East Side, said school officials were already breaking down the ramps by noon on Saturday when he arrived at Open Road. He said he asked one official what he was doing, but was quickly dismissed.

“He said, ‘Don’t touch these ramps, they’re garbage,’” recounted Mr. Morales. But he and his friends set two ramps back up against the wall of East Side Community High School and continued to skate. Read more…

Photos: Noah Fecks

And here you have it: After closing its First Avenue digs back in September, the Bean reopened today at 54 Second Avenue, on the corner of Third Street – down the block from its original home, where a Starbucks is still under construction. The Local showed you Jim Power’s sign going up last week; now click through our slideshow to see how the long vacant “Crazy Landlord” space was looking this morning. Not bad. The Bean will be open from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m. daily; the menu remains the same, as you can see below. And don’t forget: A location at First Avenue and Ninth Street is also in the works. The Local spotted work going on there over the weekend. Read more…

Nick DeSantis

The Local’s Nick DeSantis took the above photo on Saturday. Downtown Traveler, Zoon, EV Grieve, and East Village Corner also got shots of the SantaCon merriment.

DNA Info reports that Gregory Gumucio, the founder of Yoga to the People, filed papers in court on Friday that “cited a decision from the U.S. Copyright Office that indicates that yoga exercises aren’t protected by current law,” in hopes that a judge would throw out the lawsuit brought against him by Bikram Yoga. Metro quotes an e-mail from the chief of the Performing Arts Division of the U.S. Copyright Office: “We determined that exercises, including yoga exercises, do not constitute the subject matter that Congress intended to protect as choreography.”

Composer Phil Kline’s roving holiday boom box orchestra, Unsilent Night, will return on Dec. 17, and guess what? There’s an app for it! According to the Times, participants who don’t have a portable cassette player can now blast the score on their iPhones. Read more…

Daniel Maurer The burnt-out apartment on the fifth floor.

Firefighters battled an apartment fire at 14 Stuyvesant Oval, in the northeast section of Stuyvesant Town, earlier this afternoon. According to a spokesperson for the F.D.N.Y., a report of a fire on the high-rise’s fifth floor came in around 12:39 p.m.; it was extinguished by 1:14 p.m. One civilian and two firefighters were sent to Beth Israel with minor injuries. The cause of the blaze was unknown.

It wasn’t the only incident in the Stuyvesant Town area this afternoon. Around 2:30 p.m., The Local spotted firefighters, including a Haz-Mat unit, at work securing what the fire department said was fuel leaking from a pickup truck parked on 14th Street near First Avenue.

A police helicopter circled over Alphabet City earlier this morning as officers looked for evidence of an apparent shooting. Around 12:45 a.m., police that were working in the cordoned-off courtyard of N.Y.C.H.A.’s Campos Plaza II complex at 641 East 13th Street as well as the street in front of the Pedro Albizu Campos Community Center at 611 East 13th Street – both between Avenues B and C – were unable to confirm reports of a shooting, and a N.Y.P.D. representative did not yet have details of the incident, but The Local’s Blair Hickman reported hearing “something like a firecracker sound” near Seventh Street and Avenue A. Another Twitter user, Stephanie Begg, also reported hearing a “loud firecracker noise.”

We’ll share more information as it becomes available. If you know anything about the incident, please e-mail The Local.

Update, 11:35 a.m. | The police now confirm that around 12:15 a.m. they received reports of shots fired in the courtyard of Campos Plaza II. A 19-year-old Hispanic male was shot in the leg and taken to Beth Israel hospital, where he remains in stable condition. No arrests have been made, no suspect has been identified, and the investigation is ongoing.

1st Avenue near 12th Street

These photographs are excerpted from a series called “The Paradox of Identity.” It is a work in progress and it has been for a while (since 1985). It is first referred to in my journal as “The Pigeon Project” and later on became “If You Can Name It…”

I am naturally suspicious of grand names for things, so I need to explain: We don’t have a big sky in New York City, so the intersection of sky and city is a big part of looking up around here. I have for some reason been drawn again and again to the sight of a patch of sky etched out by the buildings enclosing it, and the fleeting glimpse of a pigeon entering or leaving. I always feel a brief pang of want when I see it: “If I could only fly like a bird; if I could only be free…of myself.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Mosaic Man’s “fellow conspirator,” Al Bonsignore, sports the signage.

Stephen Rex Brown Jim Power supervises the installation of the new sign.

The Mosaic Man Jim Power is currently presiding over the installation of the new signage for The Bean cafe at Second Avenue and Third Street.

The letters, along with an abstract tiling, look to be one of the larger works Mr. Power has done recently.

“Man, we’ve been working round the clock for days,” said Mr. Power, who showed no signs of exhaustion, as usual. “We had tiles coming in from Texas!”

A sign on the window of the cafe says it is opening on Monday. Read more…

Daniel Maurer Lucky Cheng’s at 24 First Avenue.

The neighborhood’s top drag destination, Lucky Cheng’s, will be moving to a location near Times Square in the next six months, the owner revealed today.

Citing dwindling tourist traffic, Hayne Suthon, who has run the First Avenue cabaret restaurant since 1993, said that the operation would move to a more desirable location on 52nd Street.

“The phone used to ring off the hook, but as Times Square became a magnet for tourists — we just can’t get them down here,” said Ms. Suthon. “We’ve tried back flips, standing on our heads; they want to stay up there now.”

Ms. Suthon would not give an address for the new location because she had yet to sign a lease. But that didn’t keep her from singing the new space’s praises. If all goes as planned, the location will have two tiers of drag performances, an all-you-can-eat buffet, a more high-end menu and seating for around 350 people. (Yesterday, Grub Street reported that the current location was on the market.)

“Walking by the space, and looking at the people, we said, ‘This is our demographic,” Ms. Suthon said, later noting that her clientele is “the kind of customer that wants to go see ‘Jersey Boys,’ and tourists from Missouri.” The bachelorette and birthday partiers will just as easily go to Times Square as the East Village, she added. Read more…

Daniel Maurer 53 Bond Street

As Noah Bernamoff, an owner of Mile End, expected might happen when The Local spoke to him before Tuesday’s meeting, Community Board 2’s S.L.A. Licensing Committee has voted, 8-0, to recommend that the State Liquor Authority deny the Boerum Hill delicatessen’s application for a beer-and-wine license at its forthcoming sandwich shop at 53 Bond Street.

“Generally, there were concerns about over-saturation in the area,” said C.B. 2 District Manager Bob Gormley, who attended the meeting. Mr. Gormley added, “There were some questions raised as to whether it was even allowable to have a liquor license at that location,” and said that the board is writing a letter to the Department of Buildings asking for clarification about the building’s zoning. Read more…

Courtesy of Prince Chenoa

During the three years he’s lived in the East Village, Prince Chenoa has been keeping the neighborhood’s rebel heart alive. Born Peter Robinson, he originally made his name with his Prince Peter Collection. Though his edgy t-shirts have been featured in high-fashion glossies and more than a few tabloids — adorning the likes of Lil Wayne, Susan Sarandon and Katy Perry — these days his energies are devoted to being creative director of “Lovecat,” a fanzine for models and the artists who love to chase them. Last weekend, he jaunted to Miami Beach to debut the latest issue to the sun-dipped Art Basel crowd.

Prince Chenoa, as he now prefers to be called, said that the magazine’s aesthetic, which borrows from punk fanzines of the pre-Internet era, was inspired by the East Village’s “cool rock ‘n’ roll vibe that still feels nostalgic of the punk rock days.” The result is a bit “messy, dirty and provocative,” he said — “[produced] on newsprint so we stand out among all the glossies, kind of like an East Village kid would.”

So where does this East Village kid hang out?

Read more…

Gloria Chung

Good morning, East Village.

Grub Street notices a listing that would seem to indicate that drag-queen institution Lucky Cheng’s is on the market for $25,000 a month. The link to the listing was live yesterday but is no longer available.

How’s Alec Baldwin enjoying his new digs at Devonshire House on East 10th Street between Broadway and University Place? As Curbed pointed out, he recently told Conan, “The Village is like one big bus depot of drunken young people.” Watch the clip and hear him continue: “It’s all night long. It’s like, ‘Stanley, you bastard!’ – women screaming at their boyfriends and punching their boyfriends, people screaming at each other… it’s like two o’clock in the morning. It’s loud. It’s young people drinking.”

A judge has ruled that the N.Y.P.D. was “not incompetently or in knowing violation of the law” when it arrested a 52-year-old man on charges of prostitution. According to Gay City News, Robert Pinte claimed he was arrested on false charges after being approached by an undercover officer who offered him $50 and oral sex in an East Village porn shop.  Read more…

One construction worker suffered a leg injury after an accident on the third floor of the Mars Bar building at around 1:45 p.m.

A battalion chief with the Fire Department, Bob Sputch, said that the worker was removing a piece of ceiling when a beam collapsed, possibly breaking the worker’s leg. Several witnesses at the corner of Second Avenue and First Street said that the injury did not appear to be serious.

“If you’d heard the bang, you would have thought it was something serious. But I think he’s alright,” said Malik Johnson, a construction worker at the site. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Angelica Kitchen at 300 East 12th Street.

Officers from the Ninth Precinct ordered the staff of the popular vegan restaurant, Angelica Kitchen, to stop allowing customers to bring their own bottles — but it’s not clear why.

The owner of the eatery, Leslie McEachern, said that the officers told a manager on Friday night to cease-and-desist B.Y.O.B. service, citing a complaint from Community Board 3. But the district manager of Community Board 3, Susan Stetzer, said she had never heard a complaint about the restaurant on 12th Street near Second Avenue since she took her job in 2004.

“I have no idea why they came, really,” said Ms. McEachern. “For now, we’re just complying with the order.” Read more…

Lauren Carol Smith The rooftop extension at 514-516 East Sixth Street.

Speaking of rooftop additions, the three-year battle against an extension to an East Sixth Street building continues. Today, State Senator Daniel Squadron testified before the city Board of Standards and Appeals, urging that the landlord be forced to remove the addition that looms above neighboring buildings. Last year, the Board had ruled that the new sixth floor of the building at 514-516 East Sixth Street could remain in place, but that the seventh floor had to be removed. The landlord, Ben Shaoul, is now seeking a waiver of that order.

“By granting this variance, the Board of Standards and Appeals would set a precedent that would allow additional apartments to be built far in excess of what current zoning laws allow,” Mr. Squadron said. “Granting today’s request could also lead to a permanent change to the original height of the tenement buildings on East Sixth Street, putting the buildings out of context with their neighbors and altering the feel of an historic neighborhood.”

The dispute over the rooftop extension mirrors complaints about an extension to 515 East Fifth Street, which is also owned in part by Mr. Shaoul.

Left: The building as it is today, without the addition. Right: The most recent proposal. Note the small structures on the roof. Kushner Properties

Jared Kushner did not succeed the first time he sought approval for a rooftop addition to the landmarked Puck Building, and he’s still trying again and again.

Today the Landmarks Preservation declined to approve a plan for a condominium on the roof for the third time, this time because a rendering of the proposal was found to be inaccurate. Still, it appears that approval of the plan — the three others were rejected for being too ostentatious — is near.

Kushner Companies A previous version of the rooftop addition, which was rejected.

“The architecture has calmed down. It’s not a statement anymore,” said Frederick Bland, a commissioner with the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Throughout the process, which began in September, Mr. Kushner has remained positive in spite of the rejections. His tone hadn’t shifted so close to the finish line.

“We are pleased with the progress we’re making,” he said in a statement. “This continues to be a productive process leading to a very special finished product which will improve the building in many ways.” Read more…

Two puppet festivals at the Theater for the New City this month will feature performances of children’s fare like “Little Red Riding Hood,” as well as more avant-garde material, like the prisoner uprising at Attica in 1971. Bread and Puppet Theater and the Voice 4 Vision Festival begin on Dec. 7 and 8, respectively, at the theater on First Avenue. The former will also feature “Man of Flesh and Cardboard,” an examination of Bradley Manning, the soldier facing life in prison for allegedly leaking a bounty of government information through WikiLeaks.

Brody/Amirian

The eight-story, 33-unit building replacing an antebellum row house at 316 East Third Street has been revealed.

The building, designed by the oft-criticized Karl Fischer, features large windows and a linear aesthetic similar to the architect’s design for 427 East 12th Street.

According to the website of the developer, Brody/Amirian, all apartments in the building will be for rent. Read more…

Chelsia Rose Marcius Skaters hop the fence at the now-closed Open Road park.

Open Road Park — the lot on 12th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A that attracts skaters from across the city — is closed to the community until further notice.

Mark Federman, principal of East Side Community High School, which sits adjacent to the park, cited overall disregard for the space as well as drug use on the premises, including the smoking and selling of marijuana.

“At this point it’s not really a safe space to keep open,” he said. “We decided that we’re just going to keep it closed until we figure out a way to resolve these issues.” Read more…