White Like Vanilla Gelato

Do you remember this building on the corner of Avenue A and East 9th Street, and our campaign to have the trim painted cerise?

Of course you do!

And do you remember this past April, when work began on a new store! Well…

This building came one step closer to completion last week, with the removal of the construction fence and the revelation of…  newly-painted street level walls:

White building.

There's now a gelato store called the beloved Gelarto. Here is a close-up of the front:

Close-up of front.

Cool lighting, and they kept the Invader mosaic!

Now all that's left is this ugly-ass mess, on the 9th Street side:

9th Street side.

It might be too late for a new campaign to have it painted cerise, but something has to happen here!

#eastvillage #gelarto #gelato #avenuea #9thstreet #renovations #paint #invader #mosaics

5c Cultural Center Closed?

It may look like the beloved 5C Cultural Center, on East 5th Street and Avenue C, is closed, but they're not — they're renovating!

Behold, as seen yesterday:

Closed for renovations.

Here is a picture of the inside:

Inside.

These chairs and tables look so much nicer than the ones they're replacing — I'm probably going to hang out here every day now.

I hope they have free WiFi!

#eastvillage #5cculturalcenter #avenuec #5thstreet #renovations

Bathroom Renovation Day

Did you ever wonder what an East Village bathtub looks like, the kind that isn't on feet, in the kitchen?

Well, wonder no more, for here is an upside-down bathtub, discarded this past Thursday, on East 7th Street:

East Village bathtub, upside-down and discarded.

Thursday must have been Bathroom Renovation Day on East 7th Street, because just down the block was this big ol' mess:

Big ol' mess.

What's this? On the other side of the pile were even more discarded toilets, and a sink!

Discarded toilets and a sink.

Here is a close-up on the toilet on the left:

Close-up.

That seat can't have been comfortable!

For East Villagers, going number two is an austere affair!

#eastvillage #toilets #bathtubs #7thstreet #renovations

Christodora Shroud

The Christodora House, on the corner of Avenue B and East 8th Street, is probably the most beloved apartment building in the East Village.

And why not? Michigan-born musician Iggy Pop once lived here!

I was walking through Tompkins Square Park this past Thursday evening, when I saw that the Christodora House was being enshrouded:

Enshrouded.

It's nice to see when things are being taken care of — preserving the past, for future generations to admire!

#eastvillage #8thstreet #avenueb #christodorahouse #iggypop #renovations #shroud #tompkinssquarepark

Bar 2A Renovations

The beloved bar Bar 2A, located at the corner of East 2nd Street and Avenue A, has recently undergone a makeover:

Makeover.

Here is what it looks like inside:

Inside.

Of course, in order to maintain its East Village "cred", the windows are broken:

Broken window #1.

Broken window #2.

Still, it looks much nicer than it did before — East Villagers love renovations!

#eastvillage #avenuea #bar2a #2ndstreet #bars #renovations

Pink Cellar Entrance

As every East Villager knows, a little bit of paint makes everything nicer!

I'm not sure what color this cellar entrance was before, but being newly painted, it's certainly nicer now:

Nicer now.

Heres a close-up:

Close-up.

It's too bad they didn't see fit to remove the litter when they painted!

A few short steps down the block, I found these empty paint cans:

Empty paint cans.

None of them have pink dribblings on them, so these were not the cans discarded after painting the cellar entrance. These are from another paint job, where they ate pizza while they worked.

Every job is more fun with pizza!

#eastvillage #paint #cellars #pizza #renovations #2ndstreet

Another Success

Whenever East Village Today points out a mess that needs to be cleaned, or renovations needed to store fronts, they get fixed!

Back around, oh, October 30th or so, I wrote about an itinerant bookseller outside the formerly-beloved Chase Bank branch on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, who put his books on the sidewalk instead of on a table.

No doubt after having read my post, there is now a table at this location:

A table.

Wow — I forgot the Spiderman mosaic was there!

#eastvillage #booksellers #booktables #books #chasebank #constructionsite #mosaics #renovations #secondavenue #spiderman #stmarksplace

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

Step Repair

Maintenance of the East Village is a never-ending struggle — while one part is deteriorating, another is being renovated!

One example of this renovation is the bottom step of the beloved former San Isidro Y San Leandro Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite, on East 4th Street:

Step repair.

As you can see, this is a two-hammer job!

#eastvillage #sanisidroysanleandroorthodoxcatholicchurchofthehispanicmozarabicrite #4thstreet #renovations #steps

Av. D & 8 St. Deli Corp. Update

It seems like it was just yesterday I was writing about the beloved Av. D & 8 St. Deli Corp., at the corner of Avenue D and East 8th Street, and their recent awning renovation!

Last night, while riding my Citibike down Avenue D, I saw the outcome — and now you can too!

The outcome.

It makes me want to rush right in and buy some cold beer, sodas, cold cuts, snacks, candies, groceries, fruits and vegetables, cigarettes, ATM and EBT!

#eastvillage #8thstreet #avd8stdelicorp #avenued #awnings #renovations

Av. D & 8 St. Deli Corp.

I was riding my Citibike up Avenue D this past weekend, on my way up to where no other blogger dares to go, when I passed by the beloved Av. D & 8 St. Deli Corp., on Avenue D and East 8th Street:

Av. D & 8 St. Deli Corp.

This was no ordinary day at the Deli Corp. — this was awning-changing day!

Awning changing day.

With all the renovations and construction going on on Avenue D, Av. D & 8 St. Deli Corp. doesn't not want to be left behind — it's out with the old and in with the new… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenued #avd8stdelicorp #awnings #renovations #orangecones

Progress on Avenue D

Just two months ago, I wrote about the activity taking place on Avenue D between East 6th and 7th Streets, where the ugly, abandoned buildings had been torn down. This past Saturday, I went to check on the progress, and found these orange Jersey barriers:

Orange Jersey barriers.

You can see a pile driver against the building above. Here is a picture of another pile driver:

Another pile driver.

This is what the area looks like from the opposite corner:

From the opposite corner.

At this pace, it should be finished by Christmas!

#eastvillage #avenued #piledrivers #jerseybarriers #constructionsites #renovations

The New Ray Candy Store

Now that the shock has begun to subside, it's time to examine the recent changes wrought upon the beloved Ray Candy Store on Avenue A.

I'll start by saying that I don't dislike the green, but why oh why did they have to paint everything the same color?!

With all the artists that reside in the East Village, they should have had a contest to submit ideas for the renovation. People would have lined up for the chance to do this, and not charged a dime!

I hate to say this, but it was better before. It was shabby, but it was a calm shabby — it looks like a giant Sour Patch Kids package now!

Well, there goes my chance of being unbanned from their Twitter feed!

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #renovations #twitter #shabby

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

Am I Dreaming?

Sometimes in the East Village, so many good things happen that you think you're dreaming. Today was one of those days!

I was walking across St. Mark's Place tonight, having just parked my Citibike, when I saw…

Well, let me show you instead:

Amazing.

Is this not amazing?! Just eight days ago, this building was probably the second ugliest building in the East Village — now it's clean as a whistle!

It's as if the person responsible said "You know, East Village Today is right, we should make this place look nicer", and then they did it!

Already on St. Mark's Place, I would usually walk through Tompkins Square Park, to see what sort of activities were taking place, but without even being aware of it, I was drawn, pulled, summoned… to East 4th Street:

No words.

No words could describe the feeling I had when I saw that the ugliest building in the East Village was no longer ugly — a small tear formed in my eye.

At this point, a unicorn flew out of the sky and spoke to me: "Wake up, East Village Today, this is all a dreammmmm…"

Just kidding!

I'd like to think, in my own small way, I had everything to do with this!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #paint #renovations #stmarksplace #ugliestbuilding

Purple Cow Building

I was walking across St. Mark's Place — oh, a month ago, or so — when I saw this purple cow building:

Purple cow building.

It's not exactly new — the paint job, that is — but it hasn't been this way for long!

You might recognize the blighted area on the left as the building I just wrote about in Trash & Graffiti!

As luck would have it, I discovered a picture I took of this same building a long, long time ago (2014!):

Yuck.

Can you imagine living there? Yuck! There's even a shadowy figure loitering in front!

What a difference paint makes… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #stmarksplace #paint #renovations

Wonder of Wonders

As I wrote in A Moveable Famine, after viewing the squalor that is Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East 9th Street today, I walked down one block, only to see what I thought I would never see in my lifetime: the beloved Ray's Candy Store renovated their storefront!

Look, and be amazed:

Amazing.

And what's that? They changed the name of the store?!

Introducing: Ray Candy Store!

Ray Candy Store.

Unfortunately, they kept that ratty, wooden thing in front.

Ratty, wooden thing.

It looks like this was done with spray-paint — you can tell by where there was no drop cloth! They kept part of the old blue color too — no telling why.

Now that they finally fixed the place up, as I've been advising for two years, I wonder if they will un-ban me from their Twitter feed?

Seems like the decent thing to do, don't you think?

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #renovations #awnings #twitter

New Windows

Did I tell you that the beloved Los Muchachos Supermarket on Avenue C and East 4th Street now has new glass windows?

No?

Behold:

New glass windows.

One day it's a new ventilation duct, the next day it's new glass windows — the progress train just won't stop going, no way to slow down… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #losmuchachossupermarket #avenuec #4thstreet #windows #renovations

A Peek Inside

I was walking down Avenue C recently, when I saw that the riot gate of the fomerly-beloved Avenue C Deli Corp, previous site of the equally-formally-beloved Los Muchachos Supermarket, was raised!

Somewhat:

Riot gate raised somewhat.

Well, you know what that means: a peek inside!

A peek inside.

Those vertical beams are new, which means the space is being divided, which means not one, but two new shopping emporiums opening soon!

There's never been a better time to live in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuec #avenuecdelicorp #losmuchachossupermarket #riotgates #renovation #constructionsites

East Village Chic

I was walking up Avenue C the other day, when I saw what looks all the world like a new club:

New club.

Low-key is the way to go, but you can only take that so far! So while graffiti'd plywood give the place its blighted feel, the doors are exquisite!

East Villagers love exquisiteness!

#eastvillage #avenuec #2ndstreet #chic #renovations