••• People keep asking when Gourmet Garage will open, and even though when it’s clearly not happening soon (and therefore impossible to pinpoint), I reached out again to the owner. “Probably this summer,” he said. “Construction has started though and is happening fast.”

••• I hear that the folks who live on Murray are ticked off again at Remix, the nightclub that had agreed not to use its Murray Street entrance (instead of the one on Park Place). They have pictures of it in use, and what’s more, there appears to be a Thursday night party that could be the floating strip club that was a problem once before. And the liquor license is up fro renewal….

••• Very interesting (and equally discouraging) comment from a Laight Street resident about trucks exiting the Holland Tunnel onto Laight Street:

The traffic sign that directs trucks and buses “going to 9A” to stay left and take the other exit and thus avoid Laight Street is still there as one exits the Holland Tunnel. I saw it there yesterday. However, when I asked a Port Authority cop a few weeks back who was parked on the east side of Hudson on Laight Street how he could sit there and allow trucks and buses to continue to exit and roll down Laight Street in defiance of the sign he responded and said that he can’t summons those drivers because of the language deployed in the sign. The language essentially specifies that only trucks and buses “looking to use 9A” are to be diverted away from Laight Street. He stated that he can’t tell if those buses and trucks were going to turn south on Greenwich or north on Washington and thus not use 9A (West Street). Someone needs to inform the Port Authority to change the language of the sign to be less ambiguous so it reads all trucks and buses must exit to the left (and not on Laight Street) and then the police can enforce that language without ambiguity.

••• And another enlightening comment, this one from N.:

The Laughing Man application isn’t strictly for a sidewalk bench as described on the main page blurb—it’s for converting one or more parking spaces in front of the store into a seating area. It’s different from a sidewalk cafe in that the seating is open to the general public, no purchase required, and the sponsoring business/organization can’t take orders/exchange money in the area. See this page. [You may have seen that one in Soho, pictured above, and wondered how the hell it got OKed]

••• Thanks to Geraldine Pontius sending over these two pix of 158 Franklin circa 1977, where she was the original tenant. “Does it make sense to collect our stories into a book? I think yes. Who else has a wonderful tale to tell. Come forth, Oh Pioneers!” As always, I’m happy to receive any old photos you might have! Email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.