Cleaning Up The Cheese

It looks like someone finally started cleaning out the garbage left behind when the formerly-beloved East Village Cheese closed, back whenever that was:

Cleaning up the mess.

I wonder if they had to wear hazmat suits to protect themselves from the rotting cheese?

#eastvillage #eastvillagecheese #7thstreet #inside

Darn Fine Retail Space

There's nothing like an empty storefront to get me pushing my camera up against the glass and taking pictures of the inside!

Here's the glass, on East 4th Street:

Retail space available.

And here's the inside:

The inside.

Here's another, taken a few feet to the right:

A few feet to the right.

That's darn fine-looking retail space, I gotta tell ya. If I was a retailer, I'd gobble that right up!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #inside #retailspaceavailable

So Serene

I took this picture of the inside of some formerly-beloved place on East 7th Street back in January, and I didn't take a picture of the front of the building to remind me what it was!

No idea.

It's nice though, right? Sometimes I think the best part of the East Village is the inside of vacant storefronts — they're so serene!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #inside

Inside A Call Box

Have you ever seen inside an East Village call box?

Me neither!

Until now.

Behold, the inside of a call box, on Avenue B and East 8th Street:

Inside a call box.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Is it what you expected?

Me neither!

#eastvillage #8thstreet #avenueb #callboxes #inside

Clean and Empty

I was walking across East 4th Street about five days ago, when I saw that the curtains and other window-blockages of the formerly-beloved Nie's Service Center were down, and the inside was cleaned out:

Cleaned out.

This place is small! Where did they do their prostituting?!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #niesservicecenter #inside #prostitution

Tent Camping

East Villagers are not known for their outdoorsiness — nature is scary, and it's far!

That's why we have community gardens!

So when an East Villager responds to the call of the great outdoors, there's no better place to pitch their tent than in one of those community gardens — barring that, on the sidewalk outside of one!

Behold, the sidewalk outside the Sixth Street & Avenue B community garden:

Outside Sixth Street & Avenue B Community Garden.

Since the door was open, I took a peek inside:

Inside.

…and since the roof was open, I took a peek inside there too:

Inside the roof.

There's no plumbing, and campfires are not allowed, but at least there's no bears!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #avenueb #tents #inside #communitygardens #sixthstreetavenuebcommunitygarden

Hop Devil Cool

As everyone knows, East Village Today's mission is to promote awareness of East Village coolness, and almost as if by design, there is a graffitier whose work is consistent with that mission.

His name is… Cool.

Well, that's probably not his name, but that's what he paints all over the East Village!

Here is one I saw about eight days ago, at the site of the formerly-beloved Hop Devil Grill, on St. Mark's Place:

Hop Devil Cool.

Is that a silhouette, above the second O?

Silhouette above the second O.

It is!

Of course, no story about a formerly-beloved shopping establishment would be complete without a picture of the inside:

Picture of the inside.

Keeping it cool… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #cool #graffiti #hopdevilgrill #inside #silhouette #stmarksplace

Covered With Paper

Regular readers of East Village Today will surely remember the recent article I wrote about the formerly-beloved Stage Restaurant (with unobstructed view)!

What you may not have noticed is that the door is now covered with paper:

Covered with paper.

The last picture I have of the inside is from July 2:

The inside.

Take a look at how close that seat was to the door! And because the handle of the door was on the right side, people would bump into you when coming in. Can you image trying to eat your cabbage soup with people bumping your arm?!

When the paper finally comes down, the inside will look much different — you probably won't remember what it ever looked like!

Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly… so is the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #doors #inside #stagerestaurant

Store For Rent

I don't remember if I already posted a picture of this store for rent on East 7th Street. It's possible that I did. Just as it's difficult to remember what occupied a space once it's empty, it's also difficult to remember which empty spaces I've posted pictures of!

In any case, I'm sure I didn't post a picture of this empty store with a guy taking out his trash!

Store for rent, with guy taking out trash.

One thing is for certain: if I did post a picture of this store, I posted a picture of the inside as well:

Inside as well.

Look — a window in the back! Not the little square window all the way back, but the one on the left side, that opens into a pit.

Those pit windows help make the East Village what it is… Today!

#eastvillage #inside #windows #forrent #7thstreet 

Wet Paint

I was walking across East 3rd street the other day, when I saw this Wet Paint sign:

Wet Paint sign.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

It was certainly considerate (and East Villagers are nothing if not considerate!) to put up this sign, warning people of the paint hazard, but who would stand on cellar doors and lean against the bottom of a storefront, anyway?!

In case you were wondering what the inside of this formerly-beloved store looks like, it looks like this:

Inside the formerly-beloved store.

White is the new black… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #signs #3rdstreet #inside #paint

Inside the Former Yaffa Cafe

Two weeks ago, I posted a picture of the beloved former Yaffa Cafe, on St. Mark's Place.

I passed by there again last week, and I had the idea to show what it looked like inside, for those inquiring readers who want to know!

Behold:

Inside the beloved former Yaffa Cafe.

It's very dark, as you can tell, and you can see through to the door that led to the beloved courtyard.

It's strange to think there are places so dark… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #stmarksplace #yaffacafe #inside

Places That Are Closed

As you know, I like to take pictures of the insides of buildings — when the doors are open, through windows, anything legal and ethical!

Unfortunately, I don't always remember where I was when I took a picture. These are two of them.

February 28:

Inside some place I don't remember.

March 7:

Inside some other place I don't remember.

Well, they're in the East Village — does anything else matter?!

#eastvillage #inside #closed

Inside the Door to Nowhere

I haven't posted too many "open doors" lately. They still intrigue me, but when you put them into a blog, they begin to all look the same.

Anyway, next to Horus Cafe, on East 6th Street and Avenue B, I saw this open door, which seems to go nowhere:

Door to nowhere.

And in fact, it does!

A stack of doors, inside the door to nowhere.

This room can only be entered through the door shown at top — there is no other means of entry! What is the point of this?!

Just another one of the mysteries of the East Village!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #horuscafe #avenueb #mysteries #opendoors #inside

Inside the Former 2nd Ave Smoke Shop

At the beginning of December, I wrote that the 2nd Ave Smoke Shop, after applying for a liquor license, was slated to close.

Well, now they're closed. This is what they look like now:

Empty space.

I've heard that they moved to a different location, so the net effect on drug paraphernalia sales should be zero.

East Villagers do love their drug paraphernalia!

#eastvillage #secondavenue #2ndavesmokeshop #drugparaphernalia #inside

Wither Lumé?

While walking up Avenue C yesterday, I spotted these stairs, leading into a bar (now out of business) called Lumé:

Dilapidated stairs.

Inside the door was this chalkboard sign:

10% off for all locals.

How could a place like this close? It had all the right ingredients — dilapidated stairs, a discount for local residents — everything needed for success in the East Village!

Some mysteries are just not meant to be solved.

#eastvillage #avenuec #lumé #inside #disrepair #bars

Avenue A Rises from the Dead

There's been some work going on at the former Odessa Cafe building, on Avenue A:

Close-up, inside.

It's about time! This derelict stretch of Avenue A had been growing for a while — now it's finally turning around.

I wonder what new delights will delight us here?!

#eastvillage #odessacafe #avenuea #constructionsites

Inside Former Snack Dragon

On November 12, I took pictures of the inside of the former Snack Dragon, a hole-in-the-wall (literally) eating place on East 3rd Street. Today, it's empty, and looks like this:

Tiny little place.

You have to wonder how anyone operated out of this place!

Whoever moves in will have some fixing up to do, although they might not fix anything — East Villagers love this kind of motif!

#eastvillage #snackdragon #inside #3rdstreet #disrepair

Grassroots Tavern

I was walking around the East Village yesterday, as I do so often. It was a beautiful day, especially after Saturday's wind and rain and cold!

I suspected that the area would be deserted, what with the New York City Marathon taking place, and I was correct. As I already posted, St. Mark's Place was empty. Also, because we set our clocks back yesterday, what with the end of Daylight Savings Time, it was an hour earlier than it felt, or than it was the day before.

So with noon being 11:00 now, the Grassroots Tavern was closed, as it should be!

Grassroots Tavern.

Well, a closed business is nothing if not an invitation to take a picture of its inside!

The inside of Grassroots Tavern.

It looks like an old sepia print.

That's all!

#eastvillage #grassrootstavern #stmarksplace #daylightsavingstime nyc marathon

Another Long Staircase

These should probably be put in a book called "Unseen East Village," eh?

This staircase is inside the Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera, on Second Avenue, just above East 4th Street:

Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera staircase.

They have locations all over the world!

I wonder if they're all in cool neighborhoods? And I wonder if they all have these long staircases?

#eastvillage #iglesiaalianzacristiana #secondavenue #4thstreet

The Long Staircase

As part of the "inside open doors" series, I present to you… the long staircase:

The long staircase.

This staircase leads to the CHKA (pronounced Ch-Ka) Karate school, on Avenue A.

Climbing these stairs is the first initiation into the school!

#eastvillage #avenuea #chka