Or Else

East Villagers, especially East 4th Street East Villagers, are accustomed to losing their lampposts.

A couple of weeks ago, this one disappeared from in front of the beloved Roberto Clemente School:

Disappeared.

East 4th Streeters say "Bring it back, or… ELSE!"

In no time (this past Tuesday), the Department of Lampposts sent a truck to replace it — or so it seemed:

Fixing the lamppost.

They even put an orange cone on top of the stump, so no one would sit there!

When I passed by again, the next day, this is what I found:

New cement.

All of that fanfare, just to put new cement around the stump. They didn't even put it back in the right position!

It may be dark all the way down East 4th Street, at night, but they have some darn fine sidewalks!

#eastvillage #lampposts #cement #sidewalks #orangecones #4thstreet #departmentoftransportation #graffiti #else 

New Sidewalks

Everywhere you look these days, you see new sidewalks being… laid?
…installed?

Something!

Here is an example of a new sidewalk on East 9th Street, back on August 1st:

New sidewalk.

Here is another, in front of the formerly-beloved Ton-Up Cafe and formerly-beloved Belgian Room, on St. Mark's Place, yesterday evening:

Another new sidewalk.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

What's with all these new sidewalks — are we expecting company?!

#eastvillage #belgianroom #cement #orangecones #sidewalks #tonupcafe

Bad Bricklaying

I was walking across East 2nd Street recently, pondering the hole-in-the-wall situation in the East Village, when I noticed this area of bricks beneath some painted cement that was falling off the building:

Area of bricks.

The strange thing about these exposed bricks is that they're not the same color or size as the bricks above them; they're not even the same size as the painted bricks beneath them; they're not even the same size as the other bricks in their assemblage!

If you look at the bricks directly above the lintel, you'll see that some are broken, while others are turned sideways.

It's a wonder half of the buildings in the East Village are still standing!

#eastvillage #lintels #bricks #2ndstreet #cement #disrepair

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

Reserved Parking

I was walking across East 4th Street this past weekend, when I saw this parking spot reserved for… bags of cement!

Parking reserved for bags of cement.

Only in the East Village… Today!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #parking #cement