Freezing temperatures…snow piled everywhere…it’s the perfect time to strip down to your undies and go for a run! Tomorrow at midday a bunch of people will be doing exactly that for Cupid’s Undie Run, raising money for the Children’s Tumor Foundation. So far they’ve raised almost $130,000, which is pretty impressive. The event is international too, with runs happening all over the country, and Australia…although I have to imagine they have it a bit easier weather-wise.
The runners will be heading off from around Stage 48, doing a lap of Pier 84, then back again for celebrations (and heaters). Everything starts around midday, but the actual run itself is at 2:30pm. And with a little bit of snow forecast tonight, it should make for an even more fun day tomorrow!
Continuing our non-stop 10th Ave coverage, plywood is going up around the former cleaners on the corner of W 50th St. The spot, which has been for-rent for at least a year now, is finally seeing some life.
Back in November, “As Is NYC” applied for a liquor license at the spot. The new place is owned by the same person behind Atera, a spot downtown which just last year was awarded two Michelin stars, so they know their stuff.
Some architectural diagrams of the future exterior:
Some details from the application: it’ll be a 40-seat restaurant plus bar, and open till 1am weeknights, 2am weekends. If you’re curious, you can check out the application itself, which has an “example menu”…which includes ice cream sandwiches!
Breaking the trend of endless closures over winter, signs of new places are starting to pop up. On 10th Ave, next to the library, Mocu-Mocu is inbound, filling a long-time empty store.
We don’t know too much about the new place…the legal business name is “Sekais Tuck Co”…but for the actual name the closest thing we could find was this logo floating around the internet:
Alternatively, a big stretch, but around the middle of last year, a Japanese/Korean “fusion” spot called Iyazaka Moku near Herald Square closed up, but announced they planned to reopen. Very big stretch, probably no connection, but the more you know.
Anyway, Mocu-Mocu’s application isn’t till March, so we’ll have to wait and see for a bit longer…
For unknown reasons, The UPS Store on 10th Ave has been made to close up shop by “head office”. Sure, it’s part of a chain, but the place is a franchise, so it’s owned and run by regular people, who understandably would be pretty upset with this turn of events.
The shutters make it hard to read, so here’s the text:
The UPS Store Inc has forced the owners of this location to close the store and cease operating as a The UPS Store. The owners are currently in litigation with the Area franchisee from The UPS Store in connection with this matter and are taking all available actions to reopen this store as soon as possible.
If you have a mailbox at this location, please send an email to nypshotline@gmail.com and we will advise you when you can come pick it up. If you have any questions regarding UPS packages you have routed to this location, please contact The UPS Store customer service at 18007425877. We apologize for this inconvenience, and hope to reopen as soon as possible.
Owners
All the drama that can happen with something as seemingly simple as a mail shop…
Update: Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences in the comments. Good to hear some of you are starting to make progress. We’ve received an email from commenter Eva about some success she’s had in the battle to get access back to your mail:
Good News! A rep for UPSSTORESINC contacted me this morning. They are stepping up so we can all get our mail. They will also honor our contracts and redistribute our mail to other UPSSTORE locations. If you have a box at 331 West 57th Street write to customerrelations@upsstore.com. Give them your box number and other vital info as well as how long you have had your contract etc. and they will be more than happy to help you. You can also call them at 1(800)789‑4623. At the moment they are dealing with the owners to get our mail out of the store so you can pick it up at other UPSSTORE locations. They have also said that they are looking into forwarding any mail that is en route.
They promised to keep in touch. So please check back for more info about OURUPSSTORE.
We’ve also posted a follow-up article about all the goings-on at the 57th St store and all the messages being left on the windows. There’s a possibly-helpful list of phone numbers to try while you keep pushing to get your mail.
If you have any breakthroughs yourself, please let us know below, or by emailing us! Best of luck!
Update 2:(March 5) Commenter Eva reports below that UPS called with news that all the mail from the W 57th St location will be available for pickup by Friday at another UPS location.
In addition, commenter Karen has shared a number of images of employees (?) entering the store today gathering mail to take to the other location, as well as a new notice on the window with the address of the pickup location: the UPS Store on 8th Ave between 52nd&53rd. If you still haven’t gotten access to your mail yet, try that store as soon as you can.
Tehuitzingo, a long-time favorite “hidden gem” on 10th Ave, has opened its doors at it’s new, shiny9th Ave location. The taqueria is open 24 hours for your taco needs (cash only…).
Finally got a chance to go all along 10th Ave today…and of course, just as 9th Ave is starting to clear up from its multi-year nightmare, there’s roadwork.
After a disappointingly short run, Havana Libre on 10th Ave looks to have closed for good. Only a few months ago in September we saw them gearing up to open, and now it’s gone full circle with papers back up in the windows. The place posted this terse message on Facebook last month:
The worst part is the place seemed to be pretty well liked by visitors, scoring a 5-star rating on Yelp (the only true metric of success, obviously), but I guess they couldn’t get enough people in the door. Definitely one of the shortest lifespans in recent memory…
Here’s something positive that came out of the Super Bowl. For the event, the Garment District BID had to clear out all of their planters along Broadway to make way for Super Bowl Boulevard. Along the way, they donated 25 of them to Dyer Triangle, helping make a much better barrier against the traffic:
