Controversy

You would not expect a post from East Village Today to generate controversy, yet controversy has indeed been generated!

It started when I tweeted the link to my article Abandoned Tires — Update.

Abandoned Tires – Update https://t.co/nj6oRlc0OX #EastVillage #AbandonedTires #tires #mopeds #4thStreet #controversy pic.twitter.com/Y6P8dPf42T

— East Village Today (@zybkgex) March 3, 2018

Look what I saw this morning, on Avenue A and East 5th Street (this will only make sense if you read the tweets):

Motorcycle parking place.

It's a motorcycle parking place!

Oh, and a Pabst Blue Ribbon delivery truck.

Heineken? Pabst Blue Ribbon!

#eastvillage #5thstreet #abandonedtires #avenuea #heineken #pabstblueribbon #selfpromotion #twitter

East Village Walking Tour

If you want to know how cool the East Village is, apart from reading this blog there's no better way than by joining an organized walking tour!

When I saw this on Twitter yesterday morning, I knew what I had to do:

Walk & see the Village like never before this morning with our FREE Walking Tour! 11:30am. Meet 131 East 10th. More:https://t.co/CeUVlx8yr3 pic.twitter.com/UoKjVrlAtX

— Astor Place NYC (@AstorPlaceNYC) July 22, 2017

I know Astor Place is outside the East Village-proper, but hey, maybe they're like anthropologists — they might see coolness in things we take for granted!

I arrived at the designated meeting place, St. Mark's Church, at the designated time: 11:30. This was the crowd:

The crowd.

The tour guide was feisty, what we East Villagers call "a real character"!

There were two things she said she wanted us to know: New York was a Dutch colony, not English; and, the ice age brought a lot of stone to what is now Manhattan. She left out the East Village being built on a swamp, but… it's not a geography tour!

From St. Mark's Church, we made our way down Second Avenue, turned right onto St. Mark's Place, and across Third Avenue to Astor Place. I couldn't hear most of what she said — I was in the back of the crowd. Also, I was futzing with my phone a lot of the time!

I left the group as they made their way out of Astor Place, toward Greenwich Village. I have no desire to write about Greenwich Village — I'm not an anthropologist, after all!

#eastvillage #astorplace #secondavenue #stmarksplace #swamp #thirdavenue #tweets #twitter #walkingtours

Take Down Those Lights Update

When I posted the story "Take Down Those Lights" onto Twitter, for the benefit of my many Twitter followers, I @'d the New York City Parks Department, hoping to spur them into action:

Take Down Those Lights https://t.co/9hkULYIIG2 #EastVillage #TompkinsSquarePark #ChristmasTree @NYCParks @NYCParksDept pic.twitter.com/tBLOczOStH

— East Village Today (@zybkgex) February 21, 2017

Well, let me tell you, they wasted no time taking down those lights!

No more lights.

Next on the list: get them to replace this deformed tree with a nice one!

#eastvillage #christmaslights #tompkinssquarepark #christmastrees #parksdepartment #twitter

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

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

Trash & Vaudeville Moves Again

East Villagers who follow the beloved Trash & Vaudeville on Twitter will certainly have noticed their Memorial Day Sale tweet:

***

15% off for the long weekend!!! Use code MD30 to get sum summer rockin goods!! https://t.co/9CHJkSJzLt 💥 pic.twitter.com/MU4g5cVnw5

— Trash and Vaudeville (@trashvaudeville) May 28, 2016

***

Two things to note: 1) This sale is through their web site only; and 2) This tweet was posted from sunny San Diego, California!

It would appear that the beloved Trash & Vaudeville has moved again!

#eastvillage #twitter #trashvaudeville #sandiego #memorialday

CHKA

You could be forgiven for thinking the beloved CHKA, located on Avenue A, is an abbreviation of Chaka Khan (Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan!)

But it isn't! It's an abbreviation of Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy!

Not only that, but if this tweet I received is correct — and there's no reason to suspect that it isn't — tomorrow, April 15, the East Village Independent Merchants Association is having a free self-defense and safety training class at the very same CHKA (Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan!).

@zybkgex Tomorrow night! #free #selfdefense #evima #smashbychka #eastvillageloves https://t.co/xunHOsqmXO

— CHKA (@CHKANYC) April 14, 2016

So, if your competitor is getting too big for his britches, maybe this is the class for you!

#eastvillage #chka #avenuea #independentmerchantsassociation #twitter

25 Days Till SantaCon

Great news has arrived on the Twitter express:

Working my snowballs off up here at the North Pole to get the sleigh ready for #SantaconNYC! Check out the new site: https://t.co/qzVMzOt6l3

— santacon (@santacon) November 17, 2015

Only 25 more days till SantaCon!

East Villagers love SantaCon!

#eastvillage #twitter #santacon

The Demise of East Village News

East Village Breaking News is a web site that until about two weeks ago posted articles of local interest. They are part of a larger network called The Breaking News Network, which covers cities across the United States, and the world!

The way it worked was you signed up with them, then when you posted an article on Twitter using the hashtag #EastVillage, they forwarded the tweet and posted the article on their web site. This way, someone looking for news and stories of interest about the East Village could find everything in one convenient location!

Then, disaster struck! Someone in the organization empowered to make such decisions decided that they would eliminate anything of local color, and repost only "news" items, from recognized news sites.

So today, the only stories you find on East Village Breaking News are from three sites: DNAinfo; the Lo-Down; and The Villager. That's it!

Only three sites.

I contacted them about this but they did not respond, so today I sent this:

Tweet to East Village Breaking News.

East Villagers are sad — sad! — at this recent development… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #breakingnewsnetwork #dnainfo #eastvillagebreakingnews #lodown #thevillager #twitter

Manitoba's Reopens

Great news for beer drinkers and hell raisers: Manitoba's, on Avenue B, has reopened!

With no fanfare, they just raised their gates and are back in business.

Back in business.

According to their Facebook page, they have ten days left to raise the money they need.

Oddly enough, anyone can access their Facebook page, but you need to be approved before receiving their notices from Twitter. I clicked the Follow button but they never responded. I guess they're pretty busy these days.

So what happens after lawsuits like this? They pay the money, but do they become ADA-compliant? Time will tell… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #manitobas #avenueb #twitter #facebook

The Shunning of East Village Today

You wouldn't think a blog like East Village Today would have enemies — everyone loves East Village Today! Everyone except:

EV GRIEVE

EV Grieve is the name of a blog. According to a recent post, it's been around for seven years. It was named the best neighborhood blog by one of the free, weekly newspapers.

Why does EV Grieve shun East Village Today? Who knows? I can only tell you what happened.

I started this blog back in August of this year. I have two rules about posts here and comments elsewhere: I never complain; and I never argue with commenters.

As soon as I started posting comments on the EV Grieve blog, I came under immediate attack by other commenters. I refused to respond. Soon, one of them suggested that I was a "bot". A bot! Right away, the EV Grieve blogger implemented the captcha device, which requires commenters to enter words or numbers before the comment can be submitted. This device prevents automated comments from bots.

Of course, since I am not a bot, I continued commenting. Once he saw that, he banned all of my comments. He also banned me from viewing his tweets on Twitter. That was in November.

That's one. The other is:

RAY'S CANDY STORE

I've written a couple of times that Ray's should clean their awning. This is the picture of their awning from their Twitter page (dated 2012):

Ray's Candy Store awning, quite clean.

This is what it looked like on December 29:

Ray's Candy Store awning, covered in filth.

Lately, I've been writing about the competition that's risen between Ray's and Avenue A Classic Food, a store that recently opened next door. Then, the other night, I wanted to check Ray's Twitter page, and I found that I was banned from it! The last tweet of mine that shows up beneath one of theirs is dated December 4, so it happened some time after that.

That's it. There might be others, but they're not people/blogs I follow, so I'm not aware of them. Even these two are hardly worth mentioning, but since it's the end of the year, the time when people tie up loose ends, I decided I'd dispense with it.

But this is East Village Today — East Village Today doesn't look back!

So stay cool, East Village, and get ready for an awesome 2015!

#eastvillage #evgrieve #rayscandystore #signs #twitter

Shadowy Figures in Doorways

The East Village is where shadowy figures stand in doorways. I took this picture this evening, on Second Avenue:

"You call this a Polar Vortex? Why, in my day…"

In the old days, they flipped a coin — today they post to Twitter!

#eastvillage #polarvortex #secondavenue #twitter