Friday, September 30, 2016

Big Ol' Mess

I was walking down Second Avenue, oh, a few weeks ago, when I saw this big ol' mess in the street:

In the street.

A big ol' mess, right in the street!

#eastvillage #secondavenue #orangebarrels

Tr(i)ump(h)

I was walking across East 2nd Street some time ago, when I noticed something odd about the metal plate the Department of Transportation workers used to cover excavations and street defects during construction projects:

Metal plate.

If you look at it quickly, it looks like Trump!

Weird, no?

East Villagers are susceptible to subliminal messages!

#eastvillage #avenuea #departmentoftransportation #metalplates #subliminalmessages #donaldtrump

Cool Black Pickup Truck

I was walking across East 4th Street earlier this week, when I saw this cool black pickup truck parked in front of the beloved Don Juan Barbershop:

Cool black pickup truck.

It's not the Cool Old Pickup Truck of yore, but it's a pickup truck, and it's cool!

If you're wondering, it's a Chevy Custom Deluxe 10 — second generation!

It's baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #donjuanbarbershop #pickuptrucks #coolcars

Abandoned Shoes

I was walking down Second Avenue this past Wednesday, when I saw this pair of abandoned shoes on the steps of the Middle Collegiate Church:

Abandoned shoes.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Here's an even closer close-up:

Closer close-up.

Some people abandoned babies on the steps of churches — East Villagers abandon shoes!

#eastvillage #abandonedshoes #middlecollegiatechurch #secondavenue #steps

Rose on a Fence

One of the benefits of local Citibike stations being closed for the recent Grinding Existing Asphaltic Concrete Wearing Course Project HW2CR16B is that East Villagers have even more reason to use the most beautiful Citibike station probably in the entire city!

I am referring, of course, to the New York Marble Cemetery station, on East 2nd Street.

This past Tuesday, when I locked up my Citibike, I was in for an even greater treat:

Rose taped to fence.

How goth!

East Villagers will be sad when this station closes!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #citibike #fences #goth #newyorkmarblecemetery

If You See Something, Say Something

East Villagers are very familiar with the adage: If you see something, say something!

So, while walking across East 6th Street yesterday evening, when I saw this abandoned crusty bag outside the beloved Horus…:

Abandoned crusty bag.

…I knew what I had to do: I had to say something.

Look! An abandoned crusty bag!

If the police thought there was a bomb in this bag, they would investigate it, but no one wants to investigate an abandoned crusty bag — it has germs!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #abandonedbags #crusties

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Low Tech

As part of my series of Day Trips Outside the East Village, I ventured into the Lower East Side this past Saturday. Walking up Forsythe Street, I passed by the Mulherin art gallery.

The pictures near the window caught my eye. They were photographs of houses — nothing special, just drab houses. They looked exactly like the kind of pictures I take, so I stopped in!

It turns out they weren't photographs at all, but paintings! The show is called Low Tech, and the artist is Mike Bayne, from Canada!

As much as I liked the houses, this is the one I took a picture of:

The Enfield.

What I like most about this is the half-a-sign on the left. This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy when cropping photos: do I extend the frame to the left to bring in the rest of the sign, and shift the center leftwards, or do I Photoshop it out? In this case, I would Photoshop it out, but he left it in! Incredible!

East Villagers who appreciate the unadulterated mundane should make this day-trip to the Lower East Side! Here is a map showing how to get there from the East Village:

Directions from East Village.

The show will remain open until October 9!

#artgalleries #artists #daytrips #forsythestreet #lowtech #lowereastside #mikebayne #mulherin #painters

Mecca Is Here

East Villagers certainly remember the formerly-beloved Mecca of Hair on First Avenue. It was like Mecca, except for hair!

According to this sign outside the beloved Perfection Barbershop on Avenue C, Mecca is here now:

Be here now, like Mecca.

If you're wondering what Perfection Barbershop looks like when closed, it looks like this:

Perfection closed.

Yellowy!

#eastvillage #avenuec #meccaofhair #perfection #signs #yellow

Videoers

Walking around the East Village, you see a lot of videoers!

Here are two I saw recently:

Videoing on St. Mark's Place.

Videoing Bill Popp in Tompkins Square Park.

Wherever there is movement, someone is bound to be capturing it on videotape… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #stmarksplace #tompkinssquarepark #videographers #billpopp

fresco Update

East Villagers continue to abhor a blank wall, as seen yesterday evening, beside the beloved Dallas BBQ on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place:

Big ol' glam shoes.

Nothing like some big ol' glam shoes to brighten the neighborhood — even Fido approves!

#eastvillage #artists #constructionsites #dallasbbq #constructionfences #murals #secondavenue #stmarksplace #dogs

Monday, September 26, 2016

Wagon & Car

I was walking up First Avenue this past Saturday, when I saw this repurposed wagon and car at the beloved sidewalk sale that's always there on East 2nd Street:

Wagon and car.

I wonder if they're for sale? Probably.

Everything has a price… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #2ndstreet #wagons #cars #sidewalksales

Private Property

East Villagers are guarded people. They are villagers after all!

One example of this guardedness can be seen with this sign declaring the contents of these trash bins on East 9th Street to be private property:

Private property.

Here is a close-up.

Close-up.

The owner of this building must have got quite a deal on "Private Property" signs; here is another on the other side of the stairs:

No bikes.

East Villagers will probably start locking their bikes on the other side now, and throw their trash on this side!

Be careful what you wish for… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #notrespassing #privateproperty #signs #trashbins

Cool Black Car

It's been a while since there have been any cool cars in the East Village!

The last one I saw was 12 days ago, on East 6th Street:

Cool black car.

Nothing says East Village Today like a cool black car in the Fall!

#eastvillage #coolcars #6thstreet #fall

Flag / No Flag

East Villagers love U.S. flags.

That explains why this motorcycle owner put a flag on his motorcycle, on East 6th Street:

Flag on motorcycle.

Of course, U.S. flags are so desirable that someone is likely to steal it:

No flag on motorcycle.

Is that what happened here? Or did it fall off because it wasn't secured properly?

#eastvillage #flags #motorcycles #6thstreet #victory

Abandoned Corn on the Cob

As recently as eight days ago, I wrote about corn on the cob being thrown out by P.S. 15, on East 4th Street.

This past Thursday, I discovered an abandoned box of corn on the cob, just past the front gates of the school, beside a siamese connection for the Fire Department, and a rat trap:

Abandoned corn on the cob.

By the looks of it, it's not cut in half, the way it was in the trash bag — how inconvenient is that?!

#eastvillage #ps15 #cornonthecob #abandoned #food #rattraps #siameseconnections

Matching Ivy and Oil Stain

I was walking across East 6th Street this past Saturday, when I saw this matching ivy and oil stain:

Matching ivy and oil stain.

East Villagers love symmetry!

#eastvillage #ivy #6thstreet #symmetry

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Fresno II Gourmet Deli

Ask most East Villagers what Fresno is, and they'll tell you it's a city in California, close to Muscatel, home of the best wine ever made!

Pretty soon, they'll tell you it's the beloved gourmet deli on Avenue C, at the corner of East 2nd Street:

Fresno II Gourmet Deli.

This is what it looks like inside:

Inside Fresno II.

It looks like they're preparing for a mural too:

Preparing for a mural.

Following Moon Pie and Lebrini's, locals were hoping for another pizza parlor.

There's a pizza on the new sign — that's a start!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #avenuec #fresnoiigourmetdeli

Abandoned Chair Epidemic

Recently, the number of abandoned chairs in the East Village has reached epidemic proportions!

Until now, they've mostly been confined to East 4th Street. However, this past Saturday, I saw this newly abandoned chair, in front of the formerly-beloved art gallery Dorian Grey, on East 9th Street:

Abandoned chair.

There was a sign on this chair:

Cool FREE CHAiR:
Clean – no bugs

Maybe it didn't have bugs on it when it was first abandoned but I'll bet it does now!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #abandoned #chairs #signs

The Reclining Man

The East Village is the sort of neighborhood where people can just kick back and enjoy themselves, free from the reproachful eye of people with reproachful eyeballs!

Here we see an East Villager doing just that, on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place:

Kicking back.

Cheers!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #stmarksplace

The Sunflower Update

Regular readers of East Village Today will surely remember the story of the sunflower that grew outside of El Jardin del Paraiso, on East 4th Street!

Three days after that story, vandals struck:

Vandalized.

But soon, another sunflower grew, this time inside the garden! It extended itself through the fence and up, until it reached the stalk of the flowerless plant, proving once and for all that sunflowers are sentient beings!

Sentient sunflower.

Here is a close-up, with red outlines:

Close-up with red outlines.

But it was a marriage made in Hell — yesterday, vandals struck again, this time decisively:

Decisive vandalism.

The end.

#eastvillage #4thstreet #communitygardens #eljardindelparaiso #sunflowers #vandalism

Saturday, September 24, 2016

fresco

East Villagers abhor a blank wall!

I was riding my Citibike down Second Avenue this past Tuesday when I saw this artist creating a mural on a construction fence beside the beloved fresco:

Creating a mural.

He must have had permission to do this, because it was broad daylight, and he wasn't looking over his shoulder!

Fast forward to yesterday, and the mural was complete:

Completed mural, front view.

Completed mural, corner view.

The construction fence along the abandoned section of St. Mark's Place, on the other hand, is less decorative:

Less decorative construction fence.

Still, it has movie posters — that's something!

#eastvillage #artists #constructionsites #constructionfences #fresco  #frescoes #secondavenue #stmarksplace

Defacement

If you walk around the East Village as much as I do, you begin to notice things. One of the things you notice is that some signs attract stickers and graffiti, and others don't!

Here are some signs (and a trash can, and a counter, and a pizza warming unit), that do attract defacement, at the beloved 2 Bros. Pizza on St. Mark's Place:

Defaced signs and stuff.

The stickers and graffiti are part of the 2 Bros. Pizza experience… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #2brospizza #signs #stmarksplace #stickers #trashcans

Friday, September 23, 2016

Step Repair

Maintenance of the East Village is a never-ending struggle — while one part is deteriorating, another is being renovated!

One example of this renovation is the bottom step of the beloved former San Isidro Y San Leandro Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite, on East 4th Street:

Step repair.

As you can see, this is a two-hammer job!

#eastvillage #sanisidroysanleandroorthodoxcatholicchurchofthehispanicmozarabicrite #4thstreet #renovations #steps

Thursday, September 22, 2016

NYC Pizza Run

I was walking across East 7th Street this past Saturday, when I saw this truck-thing, parked at the corner of Avenue B, with orange cones:

Truck-thing with orange cones.

It's my guess that it belonged to the people who were sponsoring the New York City Pizza Run.

What's that? I didn't write about the New York City Pizza Run? Well, let's get started!

This past Saturday was the New York City Pizza Run, in the heart of the East Village, around the beautiful Tompkins Square Park!

The idea is: you run around the park and eat pizza — how fun is that?!

The pizza was provided by Pizza by Cer Té, not an East Village institution, but a purveyor of some fine pizza, by all accounts!

Here are some pictures of the event:

Lining up for free t-shirts inside the park.

Pizza-distribution models.

World's largest selfie stick.

No description of the festivities would be complete without a video of people running!


A great time was had by all… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage 7thstreet #avenueb #trucks #orangecones #pizzabycerte #nycpizzarun #tompkinssquarepark

Yet Another Chair

It seems like only three days ago that I was writing about the abandoned chairs of East 4th Street, and here we have yet another:

Yet another chair.

At this point, it hasn't joined up with the other two, down the block, but give them time.

Chair of a feather flock together… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #chairs #abandoned #4thstreet

New Asphalt

East Villagers were as excited as a kid on Christmas to wake up yesterday to new pavement!

New pavement.

Yes, Grinding Existing Asphaltic Concrete Wearing Course Project HW2CR16B is finished!

It'll smooth Citibiking from here on out… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #streetmaintenance

The Breaks

There is nothing more exciting in the life an East Villager than the shooting of a movie or television show!

I was riding my Citibike down Second Avenue yesterday evening, when I came upon this site, at the corner of St. Mark's Place:

Movie gear everywhere.

Are these real crusties, or movie crusties?

Crusties.

Are these real firemen, or movie firemen?

Firemen.

All of this was taking place at the beloved Orpheum Theater, home of the beloved Stomp!

Stomp.

Who knows what magic is created inside the secret tent?

Creating magic.

This movie will be called The Breaks:

The Breaks.

According to the Internet Movie Database:
Three friends united by their love of hip-hop work to make their big mark in the music industry.
It's just like real life… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #crusties #filmmakers #firemen #imdb #movies #secondavenue #stmarksplace #thebreaks #orpheumtheater