The Local Angle: The East Village may be expensive and crowded, but it's not dead yet
'The East Village has never completely lost that independent, slightly unpredictable spirit,' says longtime blogger EV Grieve
The media landscape is ever changing, but one fact remains the same: independent neighborhood blogs are an essential part of the local news ecosystem, getting you the on-the-ground niche info you simply won't find in any Metro section. In our new series, The Local Angle, The Groove is catching up with proprietors of neighborhood blogs and sites covering every corner of the city.
When kicking off a series about New York City neighborhood blogs, it feels only right to start with EV Grieve. Still hosted on a classic blogspot site that itself feels like a trip down memory lane, the site has been around for nearly 20 years, chronciling the neighborhood's ongoing transformation from the city's epicenter of everything cool into a place where I saw a group of bros eagerly comparing expensive watches the other weekend.
The site's proprietor — who prefers to remain anonymous, though that information is out there if you really want to find it — has managed it all without letting weary cynicism creep in, and resists the old saw that the neighborhood is dead, or dying, or all the good stuff dried up right before you got here.
"Talk to the young adults visiting on weekends from New Jersey or Long Island — they think it’s the most magical place, like I did around the same age decades ago," EV Grieve told The Groove. "People told me then that I should have been here in like 1977 or 1986 or whatever year."
Below, we caught up with them about the mechanics of running a local news site in 2026, their favorite new and old classics in the neighborhood, and an ongoing summer Christmas Tree mystery.
How long have you been running the site?
Dec. 21, 2007. It started as Sophie’s Bar Blog, which I honestly thought would only exist for a few months. Somehow, it just kept going and soon changed to EV Grieve in early 2008.
What spurred you to start doing it?
There were rumors that Sophie’s, a neighborhood bar I love on Fifth Street, was up for sale. Some of us regulars thought this might be the end. Another death of a beloved neighborhood space. I wanted to document those last days, almost like creating a time capsule. So I started a blog, and I didn’t tell anyone there about it. I wanted it to be a surprise!
As it turned out, the owner sold Sophie’s and its sister bar, Mona’s on Avenue B, to his brother, who was already working as a manager. So things were going to stay exactly the same, except for a new toilet seat in the men’s room.
Jeremiah Moss of Vanishing New York fame somehow found Sophie’s Bar Blog. When I announced my “retirement” in a post in early 2008, he left a comment, encouraging me to keep writing about the changes happening throughout the East Village. That simple suggestion completely changed the direction of the site — and my life, not to be overly dramatic.
I’ve always loved local neighborhood news. My first reporting job after journalism school was at a community newspaper covering city council, school boards and the local police precincts, so EV Grieve felt like a way to reconnect with that part of my J-school-trained past.
How would you describe your neighborhood in your own words?
It’s resilient, creative and still often surprising. The East Village has always attracted people who don’t quite fit anywhere else, and I think that’s still true to an extent, though you may think differently walking around during weekend brunch hours. It’s changed tremendously, but the EV has never completely lost that independent, slightly unpredictable spirit.
Is EVG your full-time career?
No. I have a full-time job as a writer-editor for a nonprofit. So, most of EVG’s work happens at night, on weekends or whenever I can squeeze in time. Some days that can mean posting before work, during lunch, after dinner and right before bed.
What’s your business model? How big is the site, and how many contributors do you have?
There isn’t any business model. EV Grieve has always been a labor of love. We don’t have any advertising or sponsored content. Or anything with a price tag.
I’m the only full-time writer and editor. Stacie Joy, an East Village photographer, is also an indispensable part of the site. We don’t really have a title for her, but she has scored many scoops for EVG and gained access to places and to stories that no one else had. She kept the site going during the early days of the pandemic, as I was working all the time at my day job.
We have a lot of other regulars, resident photographers and neighborhood tipsters who pass along items and suggestions. Without them, I couldn’t possibly keep up.
How long have you lived in your neighborhood?
Nearly 33 years. At this point, I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else in my life.
How have you seen it change in that time?
The obvious answer is that it’s become much more expensive, and we’ve lost far too many independent businesses and longtime residents along the way.
Regardless, community gardens still thrive, neighborhood organizations remain active, and every year someone opens a business that reminds you why people still want to be here.
Favorite recently opened spot in the neighborhood?
Banshee on First Avenue. Owner Jen Murphy spent a decade working in bars on the Lower East Side before opening a place of her own. She talks about wanting to create a neighborhood bar with an Irish touch, inspired by mentors like the late Molly Fitch, who owned the International Bar on First Avenue and was one of my favorite people.
That kind of history matters to me. It’s not just another business opening — it’s someone investing in the community they’ve already been part of for years. That’s the kind of place I always hope succeeds.
Favorite oldie-but-goodie spot in the neighborhood?
Probably Ray’s Candy Store. It has survived everything New York has thrown at it for 50-plus years while remaining exactly what it has always been (except for newspaper sales). That’s incredibly rare.
But I could also say Anthology Film Archives, Veselka, Café Mogador, John’s of 12th Street, Russo’s, Veniero’s, McSorley’s, 7B/Horseshoe Bar or East Village Meat Market … oh, and Sophie’s.
What do people most often get wrong about your neighborhood?
People sometimes think the East Village has become completely sanitized or that everything interesting disappeared years ago — hence the occasional “East Village Is Dead” comments and graffiti. I don’t think that’s true.
Talk to the young adults visiting on weekends from New Jersey or Long Island — they think it’s the most magical place, like I did around the same age decades ago. People told me then that I should have been here in like 1977 or 1986 or whatever year.
Yes, we’ve lost so much. But there are still artists, activists, musicians, community organizers and quirky small businesses here. You have to pay attention because they’re not always the loudest voices anymore.
What’s your weirdest and/or favorite story you’ve published?
One story has stayed with me for years.
A longtime East Village resident named Michael Brody passed away in 2014, and a neighbor discovered one of his diaries from the late 1960s as well as a postcard on his refrigerator. That postcard led us to a woman in California who had been Michael’s girlfriend decades earlier.
She shared their story with me, and suddenly what could have been an ordinary obituary became this remarkable glimpse into life, love and the East Village more than 40 years earlier. It reminded me that neighborhoods are really collections of individual stories waiting to be rediscovered.
Any favorite local neighborhood lore/unexplained phenomenon/urban legend?
The ongoing mystery of who keeps dumping bread and other food into the notoriously mucky tree well on Avenue A just south of Sixth Street. This has been going on for years, attracting pigeons and creating a particularly memorable smell during the warmer months.
There’s also the ongoing curiosity of the discarded Christmas trees that appear on East Village sidewalks well into spring — and often summer and fall. I know it happens in other neighborhoods, too.
At this point, people know to send me sightings, so it has become a weird little EVG tradition. I’m always curious where these trees have been all those months … and why someone finally decided that, say, August was the time to put one on the curb. We all know how roomy NYC apartments are!
What’s a neighborhood story you wish other media would dive deeper into?
I wish more media outlets would pay attention to the everyday stories that quietly shape a neighborhood. The small businesses that have been here for decades. The people who’ve lived on the same block for 40 years. The volunteers who keep community gardens going. Those stories rarely make headlines or show up in algorithms, but they’re what give a place its identity.
Too often, it’s just crime stories, listicles, or dispatches on the latest buzzy matcha shop or trendy food opening.
What’s unique are the people and places that have been here through decades of change. Those are the stories that deserve just as much attention — and the kind EVG loves to highlight when we can.
Got a neighborhood NYC blog you think we should talk to? Let us know, virginia@nygroove.nyc.
Jess Joseph
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