Bench Up, Bench Down

I was walking across East 3rd Street — lo, these seventeen days ago — when I saw this metal bench, chained to these air-conditioner-accommodating anti-theft bars:

Bench, chained.

That's one way to stop people from walking away with your bench!

However, the very next day, the bench was upended!

Behold:

Bench, upended.

It's hard to know if it was a frustrated thief, or a satisfied vandal, behind this chicanery!

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #antitheftbars #benches #vandalism

The Sunflower Update

Regular readers of East Village Today will surely remember the story of the sunflower that grew outside of El Jardin del Paraiso, on East 4th Street!

Three days after that story, vandals struck:

Vandalized.

But soon, another sunflower grew, this time inside the garden! It extended itself through the fence and up, until it reached the stalk of the flowerless plant, proving once and for all that sunflowers are sentient beings!

Sentient sunflower.

Here is a close-up, with red outlines:

Close-up with red outlines.

But it was a marriage made in Hell — yesterday, vandals struck again, this time decisively:

Decisive vandalism.

The end.

#eastvillage #4thstreet #communitygardens #eljardindelparaiso #sunflowers #vandalism

Vandalism Update

Wow! Just as I've said before: Things change quickly in the East Village!

Just this very morning, I wrote about vandalism in front of the formerly-beloved Stage Restaurant on Second Avenue. At that time, I wrote:

Stay tuned for further updates!

That time is now!

I was walking down Second Avenue this morning, when I saw this:

Vandalism removed.

It's funny how they can remove paint from the sidewalk, but not gum!

#eastvillage #stagerestaurant #secondavenue #vandalism #graffiti

Vandals Strike

East Villagers are no strangers to vandalism — it's a defining characteristic!

Sometimes the vandalism is so brazen that it deserves attention, such as what occurred this past week on Second Avenue, on the sidewalk in front of the formerly-beloved Stage Restaurant:

Brazen vandalism.

The local authorities are probably checking the videotapes from local security cameras.

Stay tuned for further updates!

* * *

UPDATED 14:22

Click here for the update!

#eastvillage #graffiti #secondavenue #sidewalks #stagerestaurant #vandalism

Blandalism

I was walking up Avenue B recently, past the More Orgasm, Less Wargasm graffiti and accompanying trash bags, when I saw this bit of commentary written on the wall beside it:

Blandalism.

Fighting fire with fire — that's the East Village way!

#eastvillage #graffiti #trashbags #avenueb #vandalism

OSHA was Here

I was walking down Avenue A yesterday evening, when I passed by the former location of the beloved East Village Pharmacy:

Former location of East Village Pharmacy.

Time and teenagers have not been kind to this building!

Despite its trashy exterior, this is what is looks like inside:

Inside.

This is where the soap and shampoo and toothpaste and suntan lotion and other stuff was, as well as the Webkinz animals!

East Villagers love Webkinz!

#eastvillage #avenuea #eastvillagepharmacy #graffiti #osha #teenagers #vandalism #webkinz

Seriously Messed-Up Bike Seat

I was walking across East 2nd Street the other day, just past Avenue B (you can tell from the Duane Reade purple above), when I saw this:

Seriously messed-up bike seat.

What on Earth happened to this?! Was it an explosion? An eruption? A catastrophic dissolution? Vandalism?

The funny thing is: this bike was locked up right beside a Citibike station, where the seats are messed up in a different way!

If you pass by this seat, don't touch it! Who knows what you might get?

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #avenueb #bicycles #vandalism

Pizza in a Window

There's only one thing better than pizza hot from the oven, and that's pizza sitting in the window at room temperature!

I saw this on East 3rd Street, just in from Avenue A:

Pizza in a window.

And to make it more appetizing, you can view it through acid-glass graffiti vandalism!

Who's hungry?!

#eastvillage #avenuea 3rdstreet #graffiti #vandalism

Turning Vandalism Into Art

At first sight, it appears as if some vandal punched this spider and broke the glass, knowing that the shatter effect would create a web for the spider, at Stromboli Pizza on St. Mark's Place and First Avenue:

Yellow spider on broken-glass web.

Thinking about it for a moment though, it's clear that some clever artist put a spider appliqué on top of the already-broken glass!

All the world's a canvas… in the East Village!

#eastvillage #artists #firstavenue #stmarksplace #strombolipizza #vandalism #vandals

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!

Astor Place Mosaics Vandalized

Someone has been vandalizing the mosaics over in Astor Place:

An orange sign has contact information to help stop the vandalism. I'm not sure it's going to do any good though; a lot of people support the mosaics' destruction!