The Slow Demise of the Bicycle Family

At the corner of East 4th Street and Avenue B lives the bicycle family.

There's the daddy bicycle, the big sister bicycle, and the little sister bicycle:

Bicycle family.

(This is sort of like a Disney movie, where there's no mommy bicycle.)

One day, the daddy bicycle disappeared, leaving the sisters to fend for themselves!

Fending for themselves.

Sadly, with no one to protect them, the little sister got turned around, and the big sister lost her front wheel:

Woe betide them.

Woe betide them!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #avenueb #bicycles

Mass Of Stuff

I was walking across East 4th Street recently, when I saw this mass of stuff in the parking area outside the Village View Apartments parking lot:

Mass of stuff.

Who knows what that stuff is even for, or why it's there?!

You would never think it to look at it, but it was right outside this beautiful new parking lot:

Beautiful new parking lot.

The parking lot itself isn't new, just the asphalt.

#eastvillage #villageviewapartments #4thstreet #parkinglots

Tearin' It Up

I was walking down upper Avenue A recently, when I saw this assemblage of signs and barricades directing people around the sidewalk repairs taking place there:

Signs and barricades.

Look at that teeny-tiny lamppost in there — that's so considerate!

Considerate.

You know what's weird? Why would they leave the tree guard in place?

Tree guard in place.

Not just once, but twice:

Twice.

Once again, this is the perfect time to replace these trees with artificial ones.

Write your representatives and tell them: No more live trees!

#eastvillage #avenuea #trees #treeguards #sidewalkrepairs #barricades #signs

Making the East Village (More) Beautiful

I was walking across East 4th Street recently, when I saw these workers painting a lamppost at First Avenue:

Painting a lamp post.

It was a gray day, so the gray lamppost blended into the background — but on a sunny day… whoa Nelly, will that ever stand out!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #firstavenue #lampposts #paint #painters

Windy Fall

It certainly has been a windy Fall!

I was walking past Cooper Union, on The Bowery, when I saw the barricades, usually standing, had been blown down:

Blown down.

It's a good thing the crusties weren't asleep there when this happened — they might have been crushed!

#eastvillage #cooperunion #thebowery #fall #barricades

The East Village Is Falling Down!

Breaking news: The East Village is falling down!

Behold, as seen on East 6th Street between Avenues C and D, mere minutes ago:

Mere minutes ago.

Before DNAInfo, before Gothamist, even before the New York Post, East Village Today is there to bring you the news, as it happens!

It sure was windy today, wasn't it?

#eastvillage #scaffolding #6thstreet #avenuec #avenued #firetrucks

Mr. Ed's Head

I was walking down Avenue A recently (before Halloween), when I saw this sculpture of a Mr. Ed outside the beloved and bona fide Bondfade Barbers:

Mr. Ed.

Here is a close-up up its nostrils:

Up its nostrils.

Wilbur!

#eastvillage #avenuea #bonefadebarbers #mred #sculpture

Secret Message

East Villagers are way into mysticism — from gypsy fortune tellers to anarchist conspiracy theories to numerology, mysticism abounds!

Here is a numerological message I saw while walking down East 7th Street last week:

123 23 72 723:2.

123 23 is the postal code for Farsta, Sweden.

723-2 (with a hyphen, not a colon) is the set number for a Lego Diesel Locomotive with DB Sticker.

I'm sure it's a message of some sort or another!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #mysticism #numerology #farsta #sweden #legos

Pile Of Wood Day

Yesterday must have been Pile Of Wood Day!

First, I saw this pile outside El Jardin Del Paraiso, on East 4th Street:

This pile.

It seems like only three months ago that El Jardin Del Paraiso stacked their branches on the sidewalk!

Soon after that, I saw this pile, on St. Mark's Place (of all places!):

Of all places.

This is the downside of trees!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #pileofwood #stmarksplace

Leave LegoMan Alone!

I post about this small piece of wall on East 4th Street so often, I'm thinking of starting a new blog devoted to it!

I think I'll call it: thissmallpieceofwall.com

Everyone knows the LegoMan / IsThatPhoebe / Humen Bote / Eiffel Tower Postcard / graffiti wall, right?

Take a look are what happened to Lego Man:

J.R. "Bob" Dobbs face sticker.

There's a J.R. "Bob" Dobbs face on him! Who even knew sub-geniuses were still a thing?!

Five short days later, the sticker was gone:

Sticker is gone.

But the cat was out of the bag, so to speak — LegoMan can no longer remain unsullied:

Sullied.

It's like My Favorite Martian meets Bender!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #graffiti #humenbote #isthatphoebe #jrbobdobbs #legoman #myfavoritemartian #bender

Baby In Car

I was walking across East 7th Street recently a couple of weeks ago, when I saw this sticker in the back window of this car:

Sticker in back window.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

What?! They left a baby in the car?!

They didn't even crack the windows!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #cars #signs #babyincar

Cute Aliens Mural

The outside wall of the beloved Foot Gear Plus on St. Mark's Place and First Avenue changes murals faster than they change inventory!

I saw this mural a mere seventeen days ago:

Cute aliens.

Did I say "a mere seventeen days ago"? In mural-years, that's a lifetime — it's probably already changed!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #footgearplus #murals #stmarksplace

Little Pink Heads

You can find art in the strangest of places in the East Village.

Take these little pink heads, for example, attached to the base of a lamppost on First Avenue:

Little pink heads.

They look almost like the ceramic head outside the ceramic studio on St. Mark's Place, but then all little ceramic heads look the same!

#eastvillage #ceramics #firstavenue #lampposts

Atop Cellar Doors

If you thought sitting atop cellar doors was privilege reserved only for restaurant patrons, think again!

Now you can sit, or even lie, on this abandoned couch on East 2nd Street, atop the cellar doors there:

Atop cellar doors.

There's an old saying that there are two things you should always do when you have a chance: pee, and sit down.

In the East Village, you can always sit.

Come to think of it, you can always pee too!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #abandonedcouches #cellardoors #pee #sit

Nice Chair

Sometimes, when you're walking around the East Village, you get tired and want to sit down.

Luckily, a chair is never far away, such as this one, on East 6th Street:

Not far away.

It even comes with its own bird seed, in case you forget yours at home!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #abandonedchairs #birdseed

Against The Hawks

I think the hawks should be removed from Tompkins Square Park.

To begin with, the presence of the hawks has contributed significantly to the explosion in the rat population in the park, and surrounding areas. When the hawks moved in, the Parks Department stopped putting out poison to kill the rats.

Also, since the hawks arrived, East Villagers have had to suffer this sort of carnage (seen in Tompkins Square Park):

Carnage.

City parks are not meant to harbor wildlife; there's something sinister about nature invading a city.

The Parks Department should trap the hawks and move them to the Adirondacks, where they belong.

#eastvillage #carnage #hawks #pigeons #ratpoison #rats #tompkinssquarepark

Abandoned Tire

It's not every day you see an abandoned car tire, like this one on East 6th Street:

On East 6th Street.

I thought it might have been discarded because it was flat, but then I remembered: East Villagers don't know how to change a tire!

By now, this tire has been snatched up and put into some kind of multimedia sculpture.

#eastvillage #6thstreet #abandonedtires #firehydrants

This Space Reserved

There are many novel ways to reserve a parking space on the street in the East Village.

This is one of them:

Space reserved.

#eastvillage #avenuea #4thstreet #rubble

Art Imitates Anti-Pigeon Contraption

I was walking across East 7th Street last night, when I saw this sign:

Sign.

I looked around me for the fence being described, and I found it:

Fence.

It's a good thing that sign was there, or I would never have known that was art, and not just some kind of contraption put up to keep pigeons out!

We need more signs like this, to point out all the other works of art that oftentimes get missed, due to their looking like heaps of scrap metal and such.

(I just want to say how cool it is that my favorite computer program designed its logo to honor this artist!)

Ai.

#eastvillage #7thstreet #adobeillustrator #aiweiwei #fences #publicartfund #signs

More Tree Guards

East 4th Street has some of the most curious tree guards in all of the East Village!

Here is one:

Tree guard.

Was the tree guard made too small, or was the cut in the sidewalk made too large? And why are there only three sides to it?

Here is another, that looks like a cemetery fence:

Cemetery fence.

It even has a gate!

Gate.

Now that The City is finished refurbishing our curbs, I think their next project should be to remove all tree guards in the East Village, and replace them with new, identical ones!

That would be so cool.

#eastvillage #4thstreet #treeguards

T ell M aM a

Ever since the formerly-beloved Nie's Service Center was closed for prostitution, East Villagers have been searching for a new place to get their, uh, Chinese health and stuff.

The beloved Tell MaMa Chinese Health Salon, on East 6th Street, looks like it might fit the bill!

Tell MaMa.

If it's safe to tell mama, it's gotta be legit!

One thing's for sure: their windows are completely blocked!

Blocked windows.

There's almost more of these places than there are gypsy fortune tellers, these days!

(I am horrified by this kerning — horrified, I say!)

#eastvillage #6thstreet #tellmamachinesehealthsalon #badkerning

Farewell, View

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking across East 7th Street, when I saw this truck in the empty lot at the corner of Second Avenue, with much scaffolding aside the building there:

Much scaffolding.

Maybe they're going to fix the building façade?

Last night, I passed by again, and saw that progress had been made:

A shroud.

The pirate, who lives on the second floor, is losing his view!

Soon enough, a new building will be constructed here, and we will all lose our view, of the pirate flag!

Aarrgghhh!

#eastvillage #secondavenue #7thstreet #pirateflags #scaffolding #shroud

Second Avenue Bike Lane

Back in late September, I was walking down Second Avenue, when I saw that the bike lane had been resurfaced:

Resurfaced bike lane.

Being avid bicyclists, East Villagers are always happy with bike-lane improvements!

Alas, it was not meant to last long.

Behold, as seen eight days ago:

Open trash can door blocking bike lane.

An open trash can door, with trash can protruding, was obstructing the bike lane!

Bicyclists had to think quickly to avoid hitting it:

Thinking quickly.

Maybe it was left open deliberately, to prevent bicyclists from riding through the puddle!

#eastvillage #bikelanes #secondavenue #puddles #trashcans #cautiontape #orangebarrels #bicyclists

Invincible

I was walking across East 4th Street this morning, when I saw this group of boxes on the sidewalk:

Group of boxes.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

In preparation for this post, I researched Invicta — it turns out that it's a brand of invincible watches.

Who would leave so many watches unattended?!

All of this took place in front of the soon-to-be beloved B&H Barber Shop:

B&H Barber Shop.

From bagels to photography equipment to haircuts, B&H has it all!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #bhbarbershop #invicta

Vegan Club

Rule #1 of Vegan Club: Don't talk about Vegan Club!

I guess that doesn't include posters, specifically these, seen on East 6th Street, eleven days ago:

Vegan Club posters.

Seriously though, half of veganism is talking about it!

#eastvillage #posters #6thstreet #veganism #veganclub

El Camino

Not all of the cool cars you see in the East Village are cars — likewise, not all are trucks.

Some are a combination of both!

Behold, an El Camino, seen two weeks ago alongside El Jardin del Paraiso, on East 4th Street:

Two weeks ago.

You might think that would be the last time I saw it.

Au contraire mon frère!

Here it was again, six days ago, parked on East 7th Street, alongside Tompkins Square Park:

Alongside Tompkins Square Park.

This is the car that Sterling Archer drives, after having lost his super spy car.

Now, do you know what really amazing? It was on this very day, in 1958, that Chevrolet first started selling the El Camino!

Happy Birthday, El Camino!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #7thstreet #coolcars #elcamino #eljardindelparaiso #tompkinssquarepark #happybirthday #anniversary

Dummytree

There's a new name in graffiti stickers in the East Village, and that name is Dummy Tree!

I was walking across East 6th Street back in late September, when I saw this sticker on the back of a construction sign:

Stockholm Symdrome.

Of all the syndromes, Stockholm is my favorite!

A little further down the block, I saw another green sticker fixed to this ATM hood:

Another green sticker.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Lick that toad?! Gross!

East Village Today strongly advises our readers not to lick any toads!

#eastvillage #dummytree #graffitistickers #atms #stockholmsyndrome