Gas Meter Room

I was walking across East 7th Street on New Year's Eve day, when I saw these opened cellar doors leading down to… a door? a ventilation shaft? 

 

What is this thing?

Clearly, some East Village building owner does not want ConEd to read the gas meter!

Planterless Plant

I was walking across East 5th Street a few weeks ago, when I saw this empty planter:

Empty planter.

You can see dirt in front of and to the side of the planter, suggesting that someone recently removed something (a plant, perhaps?) from it.

Following the direction of the dirt, I saw this:

Planterless plant.

It was a planterless plant.

Here they are in context:

In context.

Probably some anarchist did it!

#eastvillage #planters #deadplants #cellardoors #anarchists #5thstreet

Jumping Hose

I was walking across St. Mark's Place — oh, about a week and a day ago — when I saw this hose jumping about on the sidewalk:

Jumping about.

You can't tell from the picture that the hose was jumping about, but believe you me, it was!

The hose was attached to this Clean Air Group truck:

Clean Air Group truck.

Where was it leading, you ask? Good question!

It was leading into this cellar:

Cellar.

The question remains: were they delivering or picking up the goop?

#eastvillage #cellardoors #cellarstairs #cellars #cleanairgroup #hoses #orangecones #stmarksplace

A Real Find

The strange thing about this abandoned television set on East 6th Street is not that it was abandoned, but that someone still used it before abandoning it.

Ancient television set.

No doubt, some very old freegan will consider this a real find.

#eastvillage #abandonedtelevisions #6thstreet #graffiti #cellardoors #freegans

No… Anything

Remember the beloved Bakeri, on East 6th Street, with the outdoor table for one on top of cellar doors?

Here is a reminder:

A reminder.

I passed by their last night and the place was empty.

Maybe this is why:

No wifi.

No wifi? There might as well be no electricity!

#eastvillage #bakeri #6thstreet #wifi #signs #cellardoors

Imminent Collapse

These cellar doors, on East 6th Street, are collapsing into the swamp the East Village is built on:

Into the swamp.

It's a good thing that orange barrel is tied to the riot gates with that caution tape, otherwise it might fall into the cellar when those doors finally give way!

#eastvillage #orangebarrels #cautiontape #6thstreet #cellardoors

Doors On Doors

You see lots of stuff on top of cellar doors when you're walking around the East Village — usually people eating.

I don't think I've ever seen garbage piled on them though… until now!

Behold, on Avenue B:

Garbage on cellar doors.

Wait a minute… why are there doors on top of the cellar doors to begin with?!

#eastvillage #avenueb #cellardoors #garbage #signs

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

Chi Chi

St. Mark's Place is the chichiest street in the whole East Village.

Here is one of the chis:

Chi Ken.

…and here is another:

Chi Snack Shop.

Pokemons and astroturf cellar-door covers — trés chichi!

#eastvillage #chiken #chisnackshop #stmarksplace #chichi #astroturf #cellardoors

Wobbly Table For One

I will never stop being amazed that people sit at outdoor tables on top of cellar doors!

Here is the most recent example I saw last Sunday, at the beloved Bakeri, on East 6th Street:

"Finally, I'm in East Village Today, and it's on top of cellar doors!"

Yeah, it's just a bad idea.

#eastvillage #6thstreet #bakeri #outdoorseating #cellardoors

Elevated Table

Back in May, when I wrote about East 7th Street without cars, I was so moved by my ability to take wide-angle pictures of buildings that I failed to notice the table in front of the beloved Rose and Basil was no longer sitting on AstroTurf!

It wasn't even sitting on the cellar doors!

Behold:

Elevated table.

It's still weird, sitting over cellar doors, but the table and chair probably don't wobble as much now — instead, it'll probably roll down the sidewalk to the curb!

Could I get this to go?

#eastvillage #7thstreet #cellardoors #outdoorseating #roseandbasil

Activity At East Village Bikes

I guess the riot gates being raised at the formerly beloved East Village Bikes on Avenue C was not just a fluke — they were up again this past Sunday!

It's still hard to tell what's going on, except that they're selling paintings and used air conditioners:

Painting and used air conditioner.

…and Elmo is guarding the cellar doors:

Guarding the cellar doors.

This time, the door was open:

Open door.

Here is a close-up of the inside:

Close-up of inside.

It's a mystery!

#eastvillage #avenuec #eastvillagebikes #riotgates #cellardoors #elmo

Blocked Entrance

If you've got a good memory, then you will remember a story I wrote, oh, about two years and seven months ago, about the beloved Uliana, and the steep steps you had to walk down to get inside.

I thought that would be the steepest staircase I'd find in the East Village, until this past Sunday.

Behold, the beloved Duo NYC, on East 9th Street (not very far from Uliana!), and their cellar entrance:

Cellar entrance.

My first thought was: That can't be right. That sign can't be indicating that the entrance is down those cellar stairs, so I looked at the other side:

The other side.

Yup! There's no doubt about it!

I just wonder: Why did they block the entrance with that sign?

#eastvillage #9thstreet #duonyc #cellardoors #cellars #steps

Atop Cellar Doors

It's hard to image carrying a cup of coffee outside and sitting on a backless, plastic stool on top of rickety cellar doors, but that's only one of the amenities available to East Villagers at the beloved Southern Cross Coffee, on East 5th Street:

Backless, plastic stools.

Not to be outdone, the beloved So-Hair, just down the block, offers wooden chairs atop their own cellar doors, for customers awaiting haircuts:

Backful and wooden.

Cellar doors — the official doors of the East Village!

#eastvillage #5thstreet #cellardoors #chairs #sohair #southerncrosscoffee

Through the Cellar Door Hole

Have you ever been walking down the sidewalk — Second Avenue, for instance — when you see an opening in a cellar door where maybe a handle should be…

Opening where maybe a handle should be.

…and wonder to yourself: "I wonder what's down there?"

Well, wonder no more — I give you: the view through the cellar-door hole:

View through the cellar-door hole.

It's very primitive looking, no? I'm surprised it's not flooded, what with a swamp directly beneath us!

#eastvillage #secondavenue #cellardoors

Cementing the Cellar Doors

Round about ten days ago, I was walking down Avenue B, past the beloved Vazac's, when I saw this bit of fixer-uppery:

Cementing the cellar doors.

I wonder what happened to the bottom left part of the wall? Did some steel-toed-booted anarchist kick it, back in the 80s? Probably!

"Kick me out, will you?! Take that, beloved Vazac's!"

#eastvillage #cellardoors #cautiontape #orangecones #vazacs #cement #renovations

A New Cool

When we last visited Cool at this location (First Avenue and St. Mark's Place), he had decorated the temporary Walk/Don't Walk signholder base outside the beloved V Bar with Christmas trees!

Time has passed, the temporary Walk/Don't Walk signholder base was removed, and a new Cool has appeared a short distance away, in front of the beloved Sweet Generation:

A new COOL.

This post has been brought to you by Orange Cones, the official warning sign of open cellar doors… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #cellardoors #cool #firstavenue #graffiti #orangecones #stmarksplace #vbar

Employees Only

I was walking up Avenue C the other day, when I saw an open cellar door in front of the beloved Perfection barbershop. Nothing special about that, I said to myself, until I got closer!

Behold:

Beyond the cellar door.

Have you ever seen such a tidy cellar?! — and a door, like the one you had growing up as a kid!

In case you can't read the sign on the door, it says Employees Only.

It's important to let people who enter your cellar know which areas are restricted… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuec #cellardoors #doors #perfection #signs

Special Request

Something East Villagers might not know is that East Village Today takes requests — when feasible!

One request I had was for a picture of St. Mark's Place's beloved VD Pizza's dungeon-stairs-cellar-door in the half-open position:

St. Mark's Place's beloved VD Pizza's

dungeon-stairs-cellar-door in the half-open position.

It's M.C. Escher… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #cellardoors #mcescher #stmarksplace #vdpizza

VD Pizza

Last week, I posted a picture of dungeon stairs painted onto the cellar doors of some place on St. Mark's Place.

I passed by there again the other night, and discovered (remembered) the place in question, the beloved VD Pizza:

VD Pizza

Now isn't that an appetizing name?!

#eastvillage #cellardoors #murals #stmarksplace #vdpizza