Mosaic Restoration

East Villagers love mosaics — they're easy to create, there's no wrong assemblage, and the materials can often be found in any refuse bin!

But what do you do when a mosaic begins to deteriorate, as is this mosaic on East 6th Street?

One option is to do nothing:

The "do nothing" option.

Another option is to replace them with tiles of a different color:

Tiles of a different color.

This way, you can compare them, to see which one you like better:

Comparison.

Which option do you prefer?

#eastvillage #mosaics #6thstreet #deterioration #renovations

Look Sharp

I was walking across St. Mark's Place this past Sunday, when I saw this fellow gussying himself up in the reflection of a glass door, where once stood a beloved business that today no one remembers:

Gussying.

It's a good thing he used the door, otherwise he might have thought he had weird, squiggly tattoos on his face!

Keeping up appearances… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #stmarksplace #graffiti #deterioration

Moishe's Bake Shop New Sign

Recently, the beloved Moishe's Bake Shop on Second Avenue replaced their sign!

Here is the new sign:

New sign.

This sign gets !!! out of !!!!! exclamation points — it's nothing special, but the kerning is good!

Because the building itself is so deteriorated, they didn't put a lot of money into the sign. Here are some close-ups:

Screw-mount – ruptured metal.

Screw didn't hold.

These are the little flourishes that make Moishe's so beloved by East Villagers, one and all!

#eastvillage #deterioration #moishesbakeshop #secondavenue #signs

Bad Juju

Have you ever seen those owl statues people buy and put out to keep pigeons away? They look like this:

Pigeon-scaring owl-statues on East 9th Street.

Usually they're standing upright though. I don't think pigeons are afraid of owls that are leaning, or lying down! They're probably more afraid that this rusty old fire escape will collapse under their weight!

So… I was walking across East 7th Street yesterday when I saw something that at first I thought was a variation of the owl statues:

7th Street owl-statue variations?

Do you see them? Here's a close-up:

Bats!

A vulture!

Because this doesn't have a crooked neck, I was pretty sure it was a turkey vulture, and I wanted to be sure, so I googled "turkey vulture", and as I was typing it, other suggestions came up in the autofill, like… turkey vulture totem!

Suddenly it became clear.

East Villagers are very superstitious people. Here is what one web site had to say about turkey vulture totems:

You know how to use your own energy powerfully and efficiently. You have the ability to see auras and colors around people with your higher vision and you know how to use patience as a means to an end. You easily go with the flow of those around you yet are fiercely protective of those you feel responsible for. You have keen insight into most situations.

I think I would have come up with something more like this:

Vultures: circle above you waiting for you to die; start eating you even before you're dead; go for the eyes first.

Bats: swarm around your head just out of reach; make high-pitched screeching noises; get tangled in your hair; suck your blood.

I won't set foot outside again without my lucky rabbit's foot… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #bats #vultures #totems #7thstreet #owls #statues #superstition

Moishe's Bake Shop Sign

Back in October, I first wrote about Moishe's Bake Shop, especially about how deteriorated it was.

Today, I passed by and saw this:

Moishe's sign is gone.

The sign is gone, and the awning is on the ground, exposing further deterioration behind where it was.

The building that houses Moishe's looks like it's about to collapse — it's separated on the right side, from the building beside it:

About to collapse.

Ah, there's nothing wrong with it a coat of paint won't fix — this is the East Village!

#eastvillage #moishesbakeshop #secondavenue #deterioration #signs

9th Street Post Revisited

One of my first-ever blog posts was about a post, this one:

Post.

This post is outside the 9th Street Haberdashery, on East 9th Street. You can read what I wrote here.

Today, I want to take this time to point out something this post needs, namely: connections.

If you take a look at this close-up, you will see that there is nothing connecting the post to its bottom support:

Lack of support.

Seeing how so many East Villagers have been responding to my call to tidy things up, I expect 2015 will be the year of The Great East Village Fix‑'Em‑Upper, where the East Village will be restored to its former pristine glory!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #9thstreethaberdashery #deterioration

Moishe's Bake Shop Open?

Yesterday, I wrote about Moishe's Bake Shop on Second Avenue.

The East Village has two looks: deteriorated-closed, and deteriorated-open. You could be forgiven for thinking Moishe's was abandoned:

The sign says they're open, and they are!

Close-up:

Oh my God! That looks so good!

Next time I go by that place, I'm going to have money on me! Who cares about DeRoberti's closing? Look at that!

#eastvillage #moishesbakeshop #secondavenue #deterioration #signs

Moishe's Bake Shop Closed?

I first wrote about Moishe's Bake Shop on Second Avenue last month.

You could be forgiven for thinking Moishe's was abandoned:

The sign says they're open, but they're not:

Even the pastries have been removed:

The East Village has two looks: deteriorated-open, and deteriorated-closed!

#eastvillage #moishesbakeshop #secondavenue #deterioration #signs

Deterioration

East Villagers love deterioration. So much so that even new buildings are built with sub-standard materials, to hasten their demise.

This is to the right of the entrance to a relatively new building on East 3rd Street:

To the left of the entrance:

All that's needed are some drug addicts hanging out and the picture would be complete!

Waiting for the man.

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #deterioration #drugaddicts

Graffiti Cafe

Back in mid-October, I took wrote about the further deterioration of the section of Avenue A between East 7th Street and St. Mark's Place. At that time, graffiti had recently been written on the window of the former-Odessa Cafe.

Today, I was walking past again, and I noticed even more graffiti!

Even more graffiti on Avenue A.

Here's a close-up:

Close-up of even more graffiti.

Graffiti helps to give the East Village that "dangerous" look that's very popular here.

Living on the edge!

#eastvillage #avenuea #odessacafe #graffiti #deterioration

More Deterioration on Avenue A

Back in October, I posted a picture of an example of the recent deterioration of Avenue A. Yesterday, I was walking up Avenue A again, and I took some more pictures of this deterioration:

Exterior wall peeling away.

Even further up:

Shuttered building.

I was told the triangles cut into the wood were to allow pigeons to enter and live, making it undesirable for people to move in. It doesn't stop them, of course — it just makes it more likely that they'll contract and spread diseases!

The East Village today isn't always pretty, but it's always cool!

#eastvillage #avenuea #pigeons #deterioration

Deterioration

The stretch of Avenue A has deteriorated further. This morning as I passed by, I saw new graffiti on the window of the former Odessa Cafe:

New graffiti on abandoned storefront on Avenue A.

East Villagers love deterioration!

#eastvillage #avenuea #graffiti #odessacafe #deterioration

Speaking of Messed-Up Places

Tonight, I passed by Oda House, on Avenue B and East 5th Street. This restaurant opened in May, 2014, and already it looks like this:

Oda House restaurant's messed-up column.

This is another popular place, but this isn't even deterioration. This is just unchecked vandalism.

Oda House got good reviews in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, NY Magazine… And this is what it looks like, five months after opening.

Meanwhile, two blocks away is a bar deliberately scaled-down, but well-kept. I'm referring to Manitoba's:

Manitoba's.

As you can see, everything is well maintained. How hard is this?

I don't know, maybe it's hard — but it can be done! And … wait for it …

East Villagers love Manitoba's!

Moishe's Bake Shop

Moishe's Bake Shop is the Ray's Candy Store of Second Avenue. It's a store that sells good stuff, people like it, but the owners make it look bad.

Dreadful-looking bakery.

Where do you even begin with this place? The bottom of the E is missing in BAKE, so that it looks like BAKF. The awning is ripped to shreds. But probably the worst is the conditions of the windows:

Dreadful-looking windows.

It just baffles me why people let there storefronts deteriorate like this. But…

East Villagers love their slum conditions!