The Down-lier

Just when you think you've seen it all!

I was walking to work last week, when I saw a man walk from the corner of First Avenue and East 9th Street into the middle of the intersection and lie down!

Lying down in the middle of the intersection.

He saw me watching him. I gestured with both hands for him to get up. He reached out his hand, as if he wanted me to help him.

There was no way I was going to walk out into traffic to pick up some guy who just walked out there and laid down. It's like a wild animal with rabies, it's better to stay clear.

A couple of people who didn't see him walk out there passed by and escorted him back to the sidewalk. They probably have Covid-19 now!

Sewer Art

Sometimes when you're walking around the East Village, you see things and you think: I wonder how that happened?!

This sewer grate, at the corner of First Avenue and East 6th Street, is one of those things.

One of those things.

To the untrained eye, it looks like two separate spillages, but if you pay close attention you will see that both the puke and the paint are the same distance from the top corners of the sewer grate, and cover the same area.

This is an art project if ever there was one!

#eastvillage #sewergrates #artproject #firstavenue #6thstreet

Bad Kerning Or Nah?

This new doodle by Cool, above the beloved 1st Ave Laundry Center on the corner of First Avenue and East 2nd Street, shows that even graffiti is not immune from the ravages of bad kerning:

Bad kerning.

Unless he considered the two exhaust fans to be Os, in which case: good use of background materials!

#eastvillage #1stavelaundrycenter #2ndstreet #cool #firstavenue #graffiti #kerning

Shrouded In A Shroud

This building, on the corner of First Avenue and East 2nd Street, is shrouded in a shroud:

A shroud.

No one knows why, but I'm sure it's for a good reason.

This building is bounded on East 2nd Street by this and on First Avenue by this — it probably has something to do with that!

#eastvillage #2ndstreet #firstavenue #shroud #graffiti

So Many New Chances

There are so many new chances to have a Chase bank branch open in the East Village, possibly the most Chase-underserved neighborhood in the city!

The site of the formerly-beloved Golden Food Market, on the corner of First Avenue and East 7th Street, seems perfect:

Perfect

This past Sunday, the beloved Three Of Cups closed, making this location on First Avenue and East 5th Street the newest possibility.

Can you just imagine?

Imagine.

I'm not saying each of these should be a Chase branch — any one of them would be fine.

#eastvillage #5thstreet #7thstreet #chasebank #firstavenue #goldenfoodmarket #threeofcups

Abandoned Shoes

East Villagers are a thoughtful lot. If one of them has something, a pair of shoes, for instance, that don't fit, or he doesn't like the color, or the style, or the brand, whatever, he'll put them out for someone else to take.

Behold:

On First Avenue.

In that case, finding these shoes will be even more propitious for the finder, because they're outside the beloved Foot Gear Plus, on First Avenue.

Foot Gear Plus.

Of course, the owners of Foot Gear Plus are not to happy about this!

#eastvillage #footgearplus #firstavenue #abandonedshoes

Graffiti Boy

Back in February, I was walking across East 4th Street, just past First Avenue, when I saw this scene of a graffiti boy and his graffiti:

Graffiti boy.

He looked pretty young to be a graffitier, but this is the East Village after all!

He didn't hang around for very long though:

Graffiti boy gone.

At least he left us with his artwork, to remember him by!

#eastvillage #graffiti #4thstreet #firstavenue

Ditches

You don't usually see ditches when you're walking around the East Village, and yet, here is one, in the yard of the Village View Apartments on First Avenue, just above East 4th Street:

A ditch.

Look at all those bricks and scrap metal — you can't dig more than six inches before you hit debris from a previous building!

#eastvillage #debris #bricks #ditch #firstavenue #4thstreet #villageviewapartments

Probably Gone By Now

At the time I took this picture, back in early February, this addition to the graffiti wall on First Avenue was new.

By this time, it's probably already gone.

New, then.

Here today, gone tomorrow!

Maybe.

Probably.

#eastvillage #firstavenue #graffiti #graffitistickers #graffitiwall

Another Little Pink Head

Regular readers of East Village Today will be familiar with the sitings of little pink heads around the neighborhood!

Here's another, on East 7th Street near First Avenue:

Another little pink head.

That is one big-head baby!

You may recognize that this green mailbox is not where it belongs — it's against a building instead of by the curb — and it's not bolted into the sidewalk!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #ceramics #firstavenue #greenmailboxes

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

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

Duelling Graffitiers

Lo, these seventeen days ago, I was walking across East 6th Street, approaching the local Dunkin' Donuts, on First Avenue, when I saw this bit of graffito:

Bit of graffito.

Well, duh — East Villagers don't need to be told how to spell NYC!

Because my blogging duties take me all over the East Village, I was not able to return to this site until nine days later, when this is the mess I beheld:

What a mess!

Here is what I think happened: One person, with a can of white spray paint, crossed out "NYC not NYU", then wrote "NYU is NYC", "Columbia is NYC", and "CUNY is NYC". Then, another person, with his own can of white spray paint, crossed out all of those and wrote "SMU is NYC". Then, as an afterthought, wrote "Sorry".

Why do I think that, you ask? Because the writing of the NYU, Columbia, and CUNY messages is the same; the SMU is different, it's doubled-up, and the "i" in "is" is lower-case.

East Village Today: a forensic blog if ever there was one!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #columbia #cuny #dunkindonuts #firstavenue #graffiti #nyc #nyu #smu

The Balancing Cup

It's hard to say what's more amazing: that someone was able to balance a cup on top of a fire hydrant (on East 6th Street near First Avenue), or that no one came along afterward and knocked it off.

Amazing.

It's not amazing at all that someone balanced these two cups in the planter on the corner:

Not amazing.

With all this litter, it looks like they need one of those fancy new trash cans on East 7th Street!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #firehydrants #firstavenue #litter

WTF Is This Update

It happened so quickly, if you'd have blinked, you'd have missed it!

I'm referring, of course, to the new LinkNYC kiosk on First Avenue and East 4th Street, beside the WTF Pac-Man mailbox.

Through it all, its expression never changed.

Two weeks ago, it was "Oh my God, what is this mess?!

This morning? Behold:

Oh my God, that thing is so cool!

Watch out, East Village — here comes the 21st century!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #graffiti #greenmailboxes #linknyc #pacman

WTF Is This Update

Being an underserved neighborhood, the East Village doesn't qualify for the more-expensive sidewalk sealant cover that other neighborhoods get.

Behold:

Cheap sidewalk sealant cover.

Still, it's pretty impressive that it took less than twenty-four hours to repair the mess on First Avenue that I wrote about in WTF Is This.

That must be come kind of record!

#eastvillage #firstavenue #orangecones #toiletpaper

Big Lee And Sasha's

Something is afoot at the formerly-beloved Spanky & Darla's!

I was walking down First Avenue, oh, about seventeen days ago, when I saw this solitary square of white almost perfectly centered on a black riot gate:

Almost perfectly centered.

What could it be, I wondered?

I took a look.

It turned out to be a request for a liquor license, by the soon-to-be beloved Big Lee and Sasha's Inc.:

Big Lee & Sasha's Inc.

Big Lee and Sasha's? That sounds strangely similar to Spanky & Darla's!

Taped to their open door was a shower curtain:

Shower curtain.

Naturally, I took a peek inside:

A peek inside.

I hope they get their liquor license. Now that the beloved First Avenue Wines is about to become formerly-beloved, that section of the block will be critically devoid of alcohol!

#eastvillage #eastvillagewines #firstavenue #liquorlicense #riotgates #signs #spankyanddarlas

Two Tables

I was walking up First Avenue last week, when I saw these two abandoned tables, in front of either some formerly- or currently-beloved establishment:

Two abandoned tables.

The black one might be a bench!

#eastvillage #abandonedfurniture #benches #firstavenue #tables

Tiny Little Wooden Diorama

East Villagers are so accustomed to the Graffiti Wall on First Avenue being covered with graffiti and graffiti stickers and sometimes posters that many probably did not notice this tiny little wooden diorama:

Tiny little wooden diorama.

Here it is in context:

In context.

See? It's tiny!

#eastvillage #dioramas #firstavenue #graffitiwall